Sample records for density scale lengths

The focus of this work is on two new techniques for imposing maximum lengthscale in topology optimization. Restrictions on the maximum lengthscale provide designers with full control over the optimized structure and open possibilities to tailor the optimized design for broader range...... of manufacturing processes by fulfilling the associated technological constraints. One of the proposed methods is based on combination of several filters and builds on top of the classical density filtering which can be viewed as a low pass filter applied to the design parametrization. The main idea...

Full Text Available Abstract: We discuss the basic concepts of density functional theory (DFT as applied to materials modeling in the microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic lengthscales. The picture that emerges is that of a single unified framework for the study of both quantum and classical systems. While for quantum DFT, the central equation is a one-particle Schrodinger-like Kohn-Sham equation, the classical DFT consists of Boltzmann type distributions, both corresponding to a system of noninteracting particles in the field of a density-dependent effective potential, the exact functional form of which is unknown. One therefore approximates the exchange-correlation potential for quantum systems and the excess free energy density functional or the direct correlation functions for classical systems. Illustrative applications of quantum DFT to microscopic modeling of molecular interaction and that of classical DFT to a mesoscopic modeling of soft condensed matter systems are highlighted.

Since its original introduction in structural design, density-based topology optimization has been applied to a number of other fields such as microelectromechanical systems, photonics, acoustics and fluid mechanics. The methodology has been well accepted in industrial design processes where it c......, well-defined designs with robust performances. The overview discusses the limitations, the advantages and the associated computational costs. The review is completed with optimized designs for minimum compliance, mechanism design and heat transfer.......Since its original introduction in structural design, density-based topology optimization has been applied to a number of other fields such as microelectromechanical systems, photonics, acoustics and fluid mechanics. The methodology has been well accepted in industrial design processes where it can...

We present an extension of our recently introduced molecular density functional theory of water [G. Jeanmairet et al., J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 4, 619 (2013)] to the solvation of hydrophobic solutes of various sizes, going from angstroms to nanometers. The theory is based on the quadratic expansion of the excess free energy in terms of two classical density fields: the particle density and the multipolar polarization density. Its implementation requires as input a molecular model of water and three measurable bulk properties, namely, the structure factor and the k-dependent longitudinal and transverse dielectric susceptibilities. The fine three-dimensional water structure around small hydrophobic molecules is found to be well reproduced. In contrast, the computed solvation free-energies appear overestimated and do not exhibit the correct qualitative behavior when the hydrophobic solute is grown in size. These shortcomings are corrected, in the spirit of the Lum-Chandler-Weeks theory, by complementing the functional with a truncated hard-sphere functional acting beyond quadratic order in density, and making the resulting functional compatible with the Van-der-Waals theory of liquid-vapor coexistence at long range. Compared to available molecular simulations, the approach yields reasonable solvation structure and free energy of hard or soft spheres of increasing size, with a correct qualitative transition from a volume-driven to a surface-driven regime at the nanometer scale.

We present an extension of our recently introduced molecular density functional theory of water [G. Jeanmairet et al., J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 4, 619, 2013] to the solvation of hydrophobic solutes of various sizes, going from angstroms to nanometers. The theory is based on the quadratic expansion of the excess free energy in terms of two classical density fields, the particle density and the multipolar polarization density. Its implementation requires as input a molecular model of water and three measurable bulk properties, namely the structure factor and the k-dependent longitudinal and transverse dielectric susceptibilities. The fine three-dimensional water structure around small hydrophobic molecules is found to be well reproduced. In contrast the computed solvation free-energies appear overestimated and do not exhibit the correct qualitative behavior when the hydrophobic solute is grown in size. These shortcomings are corrected, in the spirit of the Lum-Chandler-Weeks theory, by complementing the functional ...

We present and apply rigorous dynamical modeling with which we infer unprecedented constraints on the stellar and dark matter mass distribution within our Milky Way (MW), based on large sets of phase-space data on individual stars. Specifically, we model the dynamics of 16,269 G-type dwarfs from SEGUE, which sample 5 < R/kpc < 12 and 0.3 < |Z|/kpc < 3. We independently fit a parameterized MW potential and a three-integral, action-based distribution function (DF) to the phase-space data of 43 separate abundance-selected sub-populations (MAPs), accounting for the complex selection effects affecting the data. We robustly measure the total surface density within 1.1 kpc of the mid-plane to about 5% over the range 4.5< R/kpc < 9. Using metal-poor MAPs with small radial scalelengths as dynamical tracers probes 4.5 < R/kpc < 7, while MAPs with longer radial scalelengths sample 7 < R/kpc < 9. We measure the mass-weighted Galactic disk scalelength to be R_d = 2.15+/-0.14 kpc, in agreem...

Full Text Available The resilience of a National Forest Inventory and Monitoring sample design can sometimes depend upon the degree to which it can adapt to fluctuations in funding. If a budget reduction necessitates the observation of fewer plots per year, some practitioners weigh the problem as a tradeoff between reducing the total number of plots and measuring the original number of plots over a greater number of years. Here, we explore some of the effects of differing plot intensities and cycle lengths on variants of three general classes of estimators for annual cubic meter per hectare volume, using a simulated population and appropriately-graduated sampling simulations. The simulations showed that an increase in cycle length yielded quite dramatic effects while differences due to a simulated reduction in plot intensity had more subtle effects.

We present preliminary results from a systematic study using simultaneous data from three spacecraft, Wind, IMP 8 (Interplanetary Monitoring Platform) and Geotail to examine interplanetary lengthscales and their implications on predictability for magnetic field parcels in the typical solar wind. Time periods were selected when the plane formed by the three spacecraft included the GSE (Ground Support Equipment) x-direction so that if the parcel fronts were strictly planar, the two adjacent spacecraft pairs would determine the same phase front angles. After correcting for the motion of the Earth relative to the interplanetary medium and deviations in the solar wind flow from radial, we used differences in the measured front angle between the two spacecraft pairs to determine structure radius of curvature. Results indicate that the typical radius of curvature for these IMF parcels is of the order of 100 R (Sub E). This implies that there are two important IMF (Interplanetary Magnetic Field) scalelengths relevant to predictability: (1) the well-established scalelength over which correlations observed by two spacecraft decay along a given IMF parcel, of the order of a few tens of Earth radii and (2) the scalelength over which two spacecraft are unlikely to even observe the same parcel because of its curvature, of the order of a hundred Earth radii.

Background The genetics and molecular biology of sesame has only recently begun to be studied even though sesame is an important oil seed crop. A high-density genetic map for sesame has not been published yet due to a lack of sufficient molecular markers. Specific length amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) is a recently developed high-resolution strategy for large-scale de novo SNP discovery and genotyping. SLAF-seq was employed in this study to obtain sufficient markers to construct a high-density genetic map for sesame. Results In total, 28.21 Gb of data containing 201,488,285 pair-end reads was obtained after sequencing. The average coverage for each SLAF marker was 23.48-fold in the male parent, 23.38-fold in the female parent, and 14.46-fold average in each F2 individual. In total, 71,793 high-quality SLAFs were detected of which 3,673 SLAFs were polymorphic and 1,272 of the polymorphic markers met the requirements for use in the construction of a genetic map. The final map included 1,233 markers on the 15 linkage groups (LGs) and was 1,474.87 cM in length with an average distance of 1.20 cM between adjacent markers. To our knowledge, this map is the densest genetic linkage map to date for sesame. 'SNP_only’ markers accounted for 87.51% of the markers on the map. A total of 205 markers on the map showed significant (P sesame. The map was constructed using an F2 population and the SLAF-seq approach, which allowed the efficient development of a large number of polymorphic markers in a short time. Results of this study will not only provide a platform for gene/QTL fine mapping, map-based gene isolation, and molecular breeding for sesame, but will also serve as a reference for positioning sequence scaffolds on a physical map, to assist in the process of assembling the sesame genome sequence. PMID:24060091

The genetics and molecular biology of sesame has only recently begun to be studied even though sesame is an important oil seed crop. A high-density genetic map for sesame has not been published yet due to a lack of sufficient molecular markers. Specific length amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) is a recently developed high-resolution strategy for large-scale de novo SNP discovery and genotyping. SLAF-seq was employed in this study to obtain sufficient markers to construct a high-density genetic map for sesame. In total, 28.21 Gb of data containing 201,488,285 pair-end reads was obtained after sequencing. The average coverage for each SLAF marker was 23.48-fold in the male parent, 23.38-fold in the female parent, and 14.46-fold average in each F2 individual. In total, 71,793 high-quality SLAFs were detected of which 3,673 SLAFs were polymorphic and 1,272 of the polymorphic markers met the requirements for use in the construction of a genetic map. The final map included 1,233 markers on the 15 linkage groups (LGs) and was 1,474.87 cM in length with an average distance of 1.20 cM between adjacent markers. To our knowledge, this map is the densest genetic linkage map to date for sesame. 'SNP_only' markers accounted for 87.51% of the markers on the map. A total of 205 markers on the map showed significant (P sesame. The map was constructed using an F2 population and the SLAF-seq approach, which allowed the efficient development of a large number of polymorphic markers in a short time. Results of this study will not only provide a platform for gene/QTL fine mapping, map-based gene isolation, and molecular breeding for sesame, but will also serve as a reference for positioning sequence scaffolds on a physical map, to assist in the process of assembling the sesame genome sequence.

This paper presents an analysis of the first 2MASS (The Two Micron All Sky Survey) sampler data as observed at lower Galactic latitude in our Galaxy. These new near-infrared data provide insight into the structure of the thin disk of our Galaxy, The interpretation of star counts and color distributions of stars in the near-infrared with the synthetic stellar population model, gives strong evidence that the Galactic thin disk densityscalelength, ℎ, is rather short (2.7 ± 0.1 kpc).

A density-based topology optimization approach is proposed to design structures with strict minimum lengthscale. The idea is based on using a filtering-threshold topology optimization scheme and computationally cheap geometric constraints. The constraints are defined over the underlying structural...... geometry represented by the filtered and physical fields. Satisfying the constraints leads to a design that possesses user-specified minimum lengthscale. Conventional topology optimization problems can be augmented with the proposed constraints to achieve minimum lengthscale on the final design....... No additional finite element analysis is required for the constrained optimization. Several benchmark examples are presented to show the effectiveness of this approach....

Full Text Available We review the question of whether the fundamental laws of nature limit our ability to probe arbitrarily short distances. First, we examine what insights can be gained from thought experiments for probes of shortest distances, and summarize what can be learned from different approaches to a theory of quantum gravity. Then we discuss some models that have been developed to implement a minimal lengthscale in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. These models have entered the literature as the generalized uncertainty principle or the modified dispersion relation, and have allowed the study of the effects of a minimal lengthscale in quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics, thermodynamics, black-hole physics and cosmology. Finally, we touch upon the question of ways to circumvent the manifestation of a minimal lengthscale in short-distance physics.

We review the question of whether the fundamental laws of nature limit our ability to probe arbitrarily short distances. First, we examine what insights can be gained from thought experiments for probes of shortest distances, and summarize what can be learned from different approaches to a theory of quantum gravity. Then we discuss some models that have been developed to implement a minimal lengthscale in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. These models have entered the literature as the generalized uncertainty principle or the modified dispersion relation, and have allowed the study of the effects of a minimal lengthscale in quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics, thermodynamics, black-hole physics and cosmology. Finally, we touch upon the question of ways to circumvent the manifestation of a minimal lengthscale in short-distance physics.

Inspired by Jacobson's thermodynamic approach[gr-qc/9504004], Cai et al [hep-th/0501055,hep-th/0609128] have shown the emergence of Friedmann equations from the first law of thermodynamics. We extend Akbar--Cai derivation [hep-th/0609128] of Friedmann equations to accommodate a general entropy-area law. Studying the resulted Friedmann equations using a specific entropy-area law, which is motivated by the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP), reveals the existence of a maximum energy density closed to Planck density. Allowing for a general continuous pressure $p(\\rho,a)$ leads to bounded curvature invariants and a general nonsingular evolution. In this case, the maximum energy density is reached in a finite time and there is no cosmological evolution beyond this point which leaves the big bang singularity inaccessible from a spacetime prospective. The existence of maximum energy density and a general nonsingular evolution is independent of the equation of state and the spacial curvature $k$. As an example w...

Lengthscales provide some understanding of the injection of cryogenic propellants in rocket chambers on mixing efficiency, which translates to burning efficiency and performance. This project uses supercritical cryogenic nitrogen to look at high-density core flows such as those of coaxial injectors used in rocket engines. The investigation considers test conditions from 4.0 to 6.0 MPa chamber pressure at two injection velocities and temperatures. Experimental data taken by using shadowgraph images provides a means of characterizing turbulent flow structures using a two-point correlation method to determine lengthscales and structure shapes. The experimental results are compared to computational models. (orig.)

This book presents a comprehensive description of phonons and their interactions in systems with different dimensions and lengthscales. Internationally-recognized leaders describe theories and measurements of phonon interactions in relation to the design of materials with exotic properties such as metamaterials, nano-mechanical systems, next-generation electronic, photonic, and acoustic devices, energy harvesting, optical information storage, and applications of phonon lasers in a variety of fields. The emergence of techniques for control of semiconductor properties and geometry has enabled engineers to design structures in which functionality is derived from controlling electron behavior. As manufacturing techniques have greatly expanded the list of available materials and the range of attainable lengthscales, similar opportunities now exist for designing devices whose functionality is derived from controlling phonon behavior. However, progress in this area is hampered by gaps in our knowledge of phono...

The Note presents the formulation of a class of two-scale damage models involving a micro-structural length. A homogenization method based on asymptotic developments is employed to deduce the macroscopic damage equations. The damage model completely results from energy-based micro-crack propagation laws, without supplementary phenomenological assumptions. We show that the resulting two-scale model has the property of capturing micro-structural lengths. When damage evolves, the micro-structural length is given by the ratio of the surface density of energy dissipated during the micro-crack growth and the macroscopic damage energy release rate per unit volume of the material. The use of fracture criteria based on resistance curves or power laws for sub-critical growth of micro-cracks leads to quasi-brittle and, respectively, time-dependent damage models. To cite this article: C. Dascalu, C. R. Mecanique 337 (2009).

We demonstrate that there is an optimal forcing lengthscale for low Prandtl number dynamo flows that can significantly reduce the required energy injection rate. The investigation is based on simulations of the induction equation in a periodic box of size 2πL. The flows considered are the laminar and turbulent ABC flows forced at different forcing wave numbers k_{f}, where the turbulent case is simulated using a subgrid turbulence model. At the smallest allowed forcing wave number k_{f}=k_{min}=1/L the laminar critical magnetic Reynolds number Rm_{c}^{lam} is more than an order of magnitude smaller than the turbulent critical magnetic Reynolds number Rm_{c}^{turb} due to the hindering effect of turbulent fluctuations. We show that this hindering effect is almost suppressed when the forcing wave number k_{f} is increased above an optimum wave number k_{f}L≃4 for which Rm_{c}^{turb} is minimum. At this optimal wave number, Rm_{c}^{turb} is smaller by more than a factor of 10 than the case forced in k_{f}=1. This leads to a reduction of the energy injection rate by 3 orders of magnitude when compared to the case where the system is forced at the largest scales and thus provides a new strategy for the design of a fully turbulent experimental dynamo.

As shown by many works and studies, the control of traffic flow remains the best and the efficient solution of the congestion problems. The ramp metering is a means to reduce congestion effects, it has shown his effectiveness to improve the flow and consequently to reduce the total time spent (TTS) by the vehicles in the network. In Kamel et al. [2008] the concept of flatness-based control was applied to regulate the flow at the mainline section of the road on the traffic flow model LWR. This work was preceded by Abouaïssa et al. [2006]. In this article we have proceeded the same way to set the flat output for a second order model METANET. Unfortunately we were unable to prove that the system is flat and therefore define density as flat output, but we manage to define the control laws in order to respect constraints on density and queue length at the on-ramp. The idea is to express the control variable (the outflow of the on-ramp) according to the output (density or queue length at the on-ramp), then inject it in the system. We use this control method in the ramp metering case. The first aim of the control is to keep the density in the segment where the on-ramp is connected below a density (called the target density YT) for which we have the lowest TTS, and the second aim is to keep the queue length at the on-ramp below a maximum value. In order to evaluate the controller's efficiency and applicability, a comparison is made with traditional ALINEA based controller. We illustrate this approach by comparing the cases 'no control' and 'ramp metering' for a simple network.

Settling of the biomass produced during biological treatment of wastewater is a critical and often problematic process. Filamentous bacteria content is the best-known factor affecting biomass settleability in activated sludge wastewater treatment systems, and varying biomass density has recently been shown to play an important role as well. The objective of this study was to systematically determine how filament content and biomass density combine to affect microbial biomass settling, with a focus on density variations over the range found in full-scale systems. A laboratory-scale bioreactor system was operated to produce biomass with a range of filamentous bacterium contents. Biomass density was systematically varied in samples from this system by addition of synthetic microspheres to allow separation of filament content and density effects on settleability. Fluorescent in-situ hybridization indicated that the culture was dominated by Sphaerotilus natans, a common contributor to poor settling in full-scale systems. A simple, image-based metric of filament content (filament length per floc area) was linearly correlated with the more commonly used filament length per dry biomass measurement. A non-linear, semi-empirical model of settleability as a function of filament content and density was developed and evaluated, providing a better understanding of how these two parameters combine to affect settleability. Filament content (length per dry biomass weight) was nearly linearly related to sludge volume index (SVI) values, with a slightly decreasing differential, and biomass density exhibited an asymptotic relationship with SVI. The filament content associated with bulking was shown to be a function of biomass density. The marginal effect of filament content on settleability increased with decreasing biomass density (low density biomass was more sensitive to changes in filament content than was high density biomass), indicating a synergistic relationship between these

The hierarchical transfer of chirality in nature, from the nano-, to meso-, to macroscopic lengthscales, is very complex, and as of yet, not well understood. The advent of scanning probes has allowed chirality to be monitored at the single molecule or monolayer level and has opened up the possibility to track enantiospecific interactions and chiral self-assembly with molecular-scale detail. This paper describes the self-assembly of a simple, model molecule (naphtho[2,3-a]pyrene) that is achiral in the gas phase, but becomes chiral when adsorbed on a surface. This polyaromatic hydrocarbon forms a stable and reversibly ordered system on Cu(111) in which the transmission of chirality from single surface-bound molecules to complex 2D chiral architectures can be monitored as a function of molecular packing density and surface temperature. In addition to the point chirality of the surface-bound molecule, the unit cell of the molecular domains was also found to be chiral due to the incommensurate alignment of the molecular rows with respect to the underlying metal lattice. These molecular domains always aggregated in groups of three, all of the same chirality, but with different rotational orientations, forming homochiral "tri-lobe" ensembles. At a larger lengthscale, these tri-lobe ensembles associated with nearest-neighbor tri-lobe units of opposite chirality at lower packing densities before forming an extended array of homochiral tri-lobe ensembles at higher converges. This system displayed chirality at a variety of size scales from the molecular (≈1 nm) and domain (≈5 nm) to the tri-lobe ensemble (≈10 nm) and extended array (>25 nm) levels. The chirality of the tri-lobe ensembles dictated how the overall surface packing occurred and both homo- and heterochiral arrays could be reproducibly and reversibly formed and interchanged as a function of surface coverage. Finally, these chirally templated surfaces displayed remarkable enantiospecificity for

Full Text Available Two conceptual developments in the Bayesian automatic adaptive quadrature approach to the numerical solution of one-dimensional Riemann integrals [Gh. Adam, S. Adam, Springer LNCS 7125, 1–16 (2012] are reported. First, it is shown that the numerical quadrature which avoids the overcomputing and minimizes the hidden floating point loss of precision asks for the consideration of three classes of integration domain lengths endowed with specific quadrature sums: microscopic (trapezoidal rule, mesoscopic (Simpson rule, and macroscopic (quadrature sums of high algebraic degrees of precision. Second, sensitive diagnostic tools for the Bayesian inference on macroscopic ranges, coming from the use of Clenshaw-Curtis quadrature, are derived.

We investigate the origin of the spin Seebeck effect in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) samples for film thicknesses from 20 nm to 50 μ m at room temperature and 50 K. Our results reveal a characteristic increase of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect amplitude with the thickness of the insulating ferrimagnetic YIG, which levels off at a critical thickness that increases with decreasing temperature. The observed behavior cannot be explained as an interface effect or by variations of the material parameters. Comparison to numerical simulations of thermal magnonic spin currents yields qualitative agreement for the thickness dependence resulting from the finite magnon propagation length. This allows us to trace the origin of the observed signals to genuine bulk magnonic spin currents due to the spin Seebeck effect ruling out an interface origin and allowing us to gauge the reach of thermally excited magnons in this system for different temperatures. At low temperature, even quantitative agreement with the simulations is found.

An analysis of an electron spectrometer used to characterize fast electrons generated by ultraintense (1020W cm-2 ) laser interaction with a preformed plasma of scalelength measured by shadowgraphy is presented. The effects of fringing magnetic fields on the electron spectral measurements and the accuracy of densityscale-length measurements are evaluated. 2D EPOCH PIC code simulations are found to be in agreement with measurements of the electron energy spectra showing that laser filamentation in plasma preformed by a prepulse is important with longer plasma scalelengths (>8 μ m ).

A power law regression equation, = 1.46(/r)-0.19, connecting the average experimental bond lengths, , with the average accumulation of the electron density at the bond critical point, , between bonded metal M and oxygen atoms, determined at ambient conditions for oxide crystals, where r is the row number of the M atom, is similar to the regression equation R(M-O) = 1.39(ρ(rc)/r)-0.21 determined for three perovskite crystals for pressures as high as 80 GPa. The two equations are also comparable with those, = 1.43(/r)-0.21, determined for a large number of oxide crystals at ambient conditions and = 1.39(/r)-0.22, determined for geometry optimized hydroxyacid molecules, that connect the bond lengths to the average Pauling electrostatic bond strength, , for the M-O bonded interactions. On the basis of the correspondence between the two sets of equations connecting ρ(rc) and the Pauling bond strength s with bond length, it appears that Pauling’s simple definition of bond strength closely mimics the accumulation of the electron density between bonded pairs of atoms. The similarity of the expressions for the crystals and molecules is compelling evidence that the M-O bonded interactions for the crystals and molecules 2 containing the same bonded interactions are comparable. Similar expressions, connecting bond lengths and bond strength, have also been found to hold for fluoride, nitride and sulfide molecules and crystals. The Brown-Shannon bond valence, σ, power law expression σ = [R1/(R(M-O)]N that has found wide use in crystal chemistry, is shown to be connected to a more universal expression determined for oxides and the perovskites, = r[(1.41)/]4.76, demonstrating that the bond valence for a bonded interaction is likewise closely connected to the accumulation of the electron density between the bonded atoms. Unlike the Brown-Shannon expression, it is universal in that it holds for the M

A universal characteristic of mesoscale turbulence in active suspensions is the emergence of a typical vortex lengthscale, distinctly different from the scale invariance of turbulent high-Reynolds number flows. Collective length-scale selection has been observed in bacterial fluids, endothelial tissue, and active colloids, yet the physical origins of this phenomenon remain elusive. Here, we systematically derive an effective fourth-order field theory from a generic microscopic model that allows us to predict the typical vortex size in microswimmer suspensions. Building on a self-consistent closure condition, the derivation shows that the vortex lengthscale is determined by the competition between local alignment forces, rotational diffusion, and intermediate-range hydrodynamic interactions. Vortex structures found in simulations of the theory agree with recent measurements in Bacillus subtilis suspensions. Moreover, our approach yields an effective viscosity enhancement (reduction), as reported experimentally for puller (pusher) microorganisms.

We report magneto-transport measurements in parallel magnetic field and {mu}-Raman spectroscopy on diffusive multiwall carbon nanotubes. The disorder effects on the characteristic transport lengths are probed by combining applied magnetic field and back-gate tuning of the Fermi level. Modulations of the differential conductance versus energy depict the modulation of the strength of the weak localization. Both the electronic mean free path and the phase coherence length are found to be energy dependent. The role of disorder in the density of states and in the characteristic transport lengths is discussed.

Magnetism is a collective phenomenon. Hence, a local variation on the nanoscale of material properties, which act on the magnetic properties, affects the overall magnetism in an intriguing way. Of particular importance are the lengthscales on which a material property changes. These might be related to the exchange length, the domain wall width, a typical roughness correlation length, or a lengthscale introduced by patterning of the material. Here we report on the influence of two artificially created lengthscales: (i) ion erosion templates that serve as a source of a predefined surface morphology (ripple structure) and hence allow for the investigation of roughness phenomena. It is demonstrated that the ripple wave length can be easily tuned over a wide range (25-175 nm) by varying the primary ion erosion energy. The effect of this ripple morphology on the induced uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in soft magnetic Permalloy films is studied. Only below a ripple wavelength threshold ({approx}60 nm) is a significant induced magnetic anisotropy found. Above this threshold the corrugated Permalloy film acts as a flat film. This cross-over is discussed in the frame of dipolar interactions giving rise to the induced anisotropies. (ii) Ion implantation through a lithographically defined mask, which is used for a magnetic property patterning on various lengthscales. The resulting magnetic properties are neither present in non-implanted nor in homogeneously implanted films. Here new insight is gained by the comparison of different stripe patterning widths ranging from 1 to 10 {mu}m. In addition, the appearance of more complicated magnetic domain structures, i.e. spin-flop domain configurations and head-on domain walls, during hard axis magnetization reversal is demonstrated. In both cases the magnetic properties, the magnetization reversal process as well as the magnetic domain configurations depend sensitively on the artificially introduced lengthscale.

High-performance top-gated carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNT FETs) with a gate length of 5 nanometers can be fabricated that perform better than silicon complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) FETs at the same scale. A scaling trend study revealed that the scaled CNT-based devices, which use graphene contacts, can operate much faster and at much lower supply voltage (0.4 versus 0.7 volts) and with much smaller subthreshold slope (typically 73 millivolts per decade). The 5-nanometer CNT FETs approached the quantum limit of FETs by using only one electron per switching operation. In addition, the contact length of the CNT CMOS devices was also scaled down to 25 nanometers, and a CMOS inverter with a total pitch size of 240 nanometers was also demonstrated.

It is shown how quantum fluctuations of the radiation during the contraction era of a comes back empty (CBE) cyclic cosmology can provide density fluctuations which re-enter the horizon during the subsequent expansion era and at lowest order are scale invariant, in a Harrison-Zel’dovich-Peebles sense. It is necessary to be consistent with observations of large scale structure.

Numerical simulations of L-mode turbulence in the scrape-off layer (SOL) are used to construct power scaling laws for the characteristic decay lengths of the temperature, density and heat flux at the outer mid-plane. Most of the results obtained are in qualitative agreement with the experimental...

Dense non-Brownian suspension flows of hard particles display mystifying properties: As the jamming threshold is approached, the viscosity diverges, as well as a lengthscale that can be identified from velocity correlations. To unravel the microscopic mechanism governing dissipation and its

It is shown using experimental and numerical data that within the traditional inertial subrange defined by where the third order structure function is linear that the higher order structure function scaling exponents for longitudinal and transverse structure functions converge only over larger scales, $r>r_S$, where $r_S$ has scaling intermediate between $\\eta$ and $\\lambda$ as a function of $R_\\lambda$. Below these scales, scaling exponents cannot be determined for any of the structure functions without resorting to procedures such as extended self-similarity (ESS). With ESS, different longitudinal and transverse higher order exponents are obtained that are consistent with earlier results. The relationship of these statistics to derivative and pressure statistics, to turbulent structures and to lengthscales is discussed.

We study the connection between urban scaling, fundamental allometry (between city population and city area), and per capita vs.\\ population densityscaling. From simple analytical derivations we obtain the relation between the 3 involved exponents. We discuss particular cases and ranges of the exponents which we illustrate in a "phase diagram". As we show, the results are consistent with previous work.

The question of how best to estimate a continuous probability density from finite data is an intriguing open problem at the interface of statistics and physics. Previous work has argued that this problem can be addressed in a natural way using methods from statistical field theory. Here I describe results that allow this field-theoretic approach to be rapidly and deterministically computed in low dimensions, making it practical for use in day-to-day data analysis. Importantly, this approach does not impose a privileged lengthscale for smoothness of the inferred probability density, but rather learns a natural lengthscale from the data due to the tradeoff between goodness of fit and an Occam factor. Open source software implementing this method in one and two dimensions is provided.

The reactive-infiltration instability, which develops when a porous matrix is dissolved by a flowing fluid, contains two important lengthscales. Here we outline a linear stability analysis that simultaneously incorporates both scales. We show that the commonly used "thin-front" model is a limiting case of a more general theory, which also includes convection-dominated dissolution as another special case. The wavelength of the instability is bounded from below, and lies in the range 1mm to 1km for physically reasonable flow rates and reaction rates. We obtain a closed form for the growth rate when the change in porosity is small.

Local similarity theory is suggested based on the Brunt-Vaisala frequency and the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy instead the turbulent fluxes used in the traditional Monin-Obukhov similarity theory. Based on dimensional analysis (Pi theorem), it is shown that any properly scaled statistics of the small-scale turbulence are universal functions of a stability parameter defined as the ratio of a reference height z and the Dougherty-Ozmidov lengthscale which in the limit of z-less stratification is linearly proportional to the Obukhov lengthscale. Measurements of atmospheric turbulence made at five levels on a 20-m tower over the Arctic pack ice during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean experiment (SHEBA) are used to examine the behaviour of different similarity functions in the stable boundary layer. It is found that in the framework of this approach the non-dimensional turbulent viscosity is equal to the gradient Richardson number whereas the non-dimensional turbulent thermal diffusivit...

be taken into account when developing farm layouts. The self-organized motion or large coherent structures also yield high correlations between the power productions of consecutive turbines, which can be exploited through dynamic farm control.This article is part of the themed issue 'Wind energy in complex...... orthogonal decomposition, which is employed to detect the largest and most energetic coherent turbulent structures. The dominant lengthscales responsible for the entrainment process are shown to grow further into the wind farm, but to be limited in extent by the streamwise turbine spacing, which could...

Statistical theory of strong turbulence in inhomogeneous plasmas is extended to the state where fluctuations with different scalelengths, micro and semi-micro modes, coexist. Their nonlinear interactions give several states of turbulence: in one state, the micro mode is excited while the semi-micro mode is quenched; in another state, the latter is excited while the micro mode is suppressed. A new turbulence transition with a hard bifurcation was obtained. A phase diagram was obtained. A new insight is given for the physics of internal transport barrier. (author)

Whereas the first five volumes in the Inorganic Materials Series focused on particular classes of materials (synthesis, structures, chemistry, and properties), it is now very timely to provide complementary volumes that introduce and review state-of-the-art techniques for materials characterization. This is an important way of emphasizing the interplay of chemical synthesis and physical characterization. The methods reviewed include spectroscopic, diffraction, and surface techniques that examine the structure of materials on all lengthscales, from local atomic structure to long-range crystall

Hydrophobic hydration plays a crucial role in self-assembly processes over multiple-lengthscales, from the microscopic origins of inert gas solubility in water, to the mesoscopic organization of proteins and surfactant structures, to macroscopic phase separation. Many theoretical studies focus on the molecularly detailed interactions between oil and water, but the extrapolation of molecular-scale models to larger lengthscale hydration phenomena is sometimes not warranted. We revisit the scaled particle theory proposed thirty years ago by Stillinger, adopt a practical generalization, and consider the implications for hydrophobic hydration in light of our current understanding. The generalization is based upon identifying a molecular length, implicit in previous applications of scaled particle models, that provides an effective boundary radius for joining microscopic and macroscopic descriptions. We demonstrate that the generalized theory correctly reproduces many of the anomalous thermodynamic properties of ...

We show that a simple one-parameter scaling of the dynamical correlation energy estimated by the density functional theory (DFT) correlation functionals helps increase the overall accuracy for several local and nonlocal functionals. The approach taken here has been described as the "scaled dynamical correlation" (SDC) method [Ramachandran, J. Phys. Chem. A 2006, 110, 396], and its justification is the same as that of the scaled external correlation (SEC) method of Brown and Truhlar. We examine five local and five nonlocal (hybrid) DFT functionals, the latter group including three functionals developed specifically for kinetics by the Truhlar group. The optimum scale factors are obtained by use of a set of 98 data values consisting of molecules, ions, and transition states. The optimum scale factors, found with a linear regression relationship, are found to differ from unity with a high degree of correlation in nearly every case, indicating that the deviation of calculated results from the experimental values are systematic and proportional to the dynamic correlation energy. As a consequence, the SDC scaling of dynamical correlation decreases the mean errors (signed and unsigned) by significant amounts in an overwhelming majority of cases. These results indicate that there are gains to be realized from further parametrization of several popular exchange-correlation functionals.

The Krypton-Fluoride (KrF) laser is an attractive driver for inertial confinement fusion due to its short wavelength (248nm), large bandwidth (1-3 THz), and beam smoothing by induced spatial incoherence. Experiments with the Nike KrF laser have demonstrated intensity thresholds for laser plasma instabilities (LPI) higher than reported for other high power lasers operating at longer wavelengths (>=351 nm). The previous Nike experiments used short pulses (350 ps FWHM) and small spots (<260 μm FWHM) that created short densityscalelength plasmas (Ln˜50-70 μm) from planar CH targets and demonstrated the onset of two-plasmon decay (2φp) at laser intensities ˜2x10^15 W/cm^2. This talk will present an overview of the current campaign that uses longer pulses (0.5-4.0 ns) to achieve greater densityscalelengths (Ln˜100-200 μm). X-rays, emission near ^1/2φo and ^3/2φo harmonics, and reflected laser light have been monitored for onset of 2φp. The longer densityscalelengths will allow better comparison to results from other laser facilities. *Work supported by DoE/NNSA and ONR.

The failure of materials and interfaces is mediated by cracks, almost singular dissipative structures that propagate at velocities approaching the speed of sound. Crack initiation and subsequent propagation-the dynamic process of fracture-couples a wide range of time and lengthscales. Crack dynamics challenge our understanding of the fundamental physics processes that take place in the extreme conditions within the almost singular region where material failure occurs. Here, we first briefly review the classic approach to dynamic fracture, namely linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), and discuss its successes and limitations. We show how, on the one hand, recent experiments performed on straight cracks propagating in soft brittle materials have quantitatively confirmed the predictions of this theory to an unprecedented degree. On the other hand, these experiments show how LEFM breaks down as the singular region at the tip of a crack is approached. This breakdown naturally leads to a new theoretical framework coined 'weakly nonlinear fracture mechanics', where weak elastic nonlinearities are incorporated. The stronger singularity predicted by this theory gives rise to a new and intrinsic lengthscale, ℓnl. These predictions are verified in detail through direct measurements. We then theoretically and experimentally review how the emergence of ℓnl is linked to a new equation for crack motion, which predicts the existence of a high-speed oscillatory crack instability whose wavelength is determined by ℓnl. We conclude by delineating outstanding challenges in the field.

Synchronous multipoint measurements were performed in the atmospheric surface layer at the Qingtu Lake Observation Array site to obtain high-Reynolds-number [Reτ˜O (106) ] data. Based on the selected high-quality data in the near-neutral surface layer, the spatial lengthscales of the large-scale dominant structures in the outer region of the turbulent boundary layer are investigated. The characteristic lengthscales are extracted from the two-point streamwise velocity correlations. Results show that the spatial lengthscales are invariant over a three order of magnitude change in Reynolds number [Reτ˜O (103) -O (106) ] . However, they increase significantly with the wall-normal distance, showing reasonable collapses on outer-scaled axes. The variation of the spanwise width scale in the logarithmic region follows a linear increase, with the rate of increase much larger than that in the wake region. Moreover, the variation of the wall-normal lengthscale is also revealed, which displays a qualitative behavior similar to that of the spanwise width scale. The universal laws revealed in the present work contribute to a better understanding of the dominant structures in the outer region of the turbulent boundary layer at high Reynolds numbers.

Nonparametric statistical methods developed for analyzing data for high numbers of genes, SNPs, or other biological features tend to overfit data with smaller numbers of features such as proteins, metabolites, or, when expression is measured with conventional instruments, genes. For this medium-scale inference problem, the minimum description length (MDL) framework quantifies the amount of information in the data supporting a null or alternative hypothesis for each feature in terms of parametric model selection. Two new MDL techniques are proposed. First, using test statistics that are highly informative about the parameter of interest, the data are reduced to a single statistic per feature. This simplifying step is already implicit in conventional hypothesis testing and has been found effective in empirical Bayes applications to genomics data. Second, the codelength difference between the alternative and null hypotheses of any given feature can take advantage of information in the measurements from all other...

I was part of a project in which in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to monitor growth and dissolution of atomic and colloidal crystals. At both lengthscales, the chemical environment of the system greatly altered crystal growth and dissolution. Calcium phosphate was used as a model system for atomic crystals. A dissolution-reprecipitation reaction was observed in this first system, involving the conversion of brushite (DCPD) to octacalcium phosphate (OCP). In the second system, polymeric colloidal crystals were dissolved in an ionic solvent, revealing the underlying structure of the crystal. The dissolved crystal was then regrown through an evaporative step method. Recently, we have also found that colloids can be reversibly deposited in situ onto an ITO (indium tin oxide) substrate via an electrochemistry setup. The overall goal of this project was to develop an understanding of the mechanisms that control crystallization and order, so that these might be controlled during material synthesis. Controlled assembly of materials over a range of lengthscales from molecules to nanoparticles to colloids is critical for designing new materials. In particular, developing materials for sensor applications with tailorable properties and long range order is important. In this work, we examine two of these lengthscales: small molecule crystallization of calcium phosphate (whose crystal phases include DCPD, OCP, and HAP) and colloidal crystallization of Poly(methyl methacrylate) beads. Atomic Force Microscopy is ideal for this line of work because it allows for the possibility of observing non-conducting samples in fluid during growth with high resolution ({approx} 10 nm). In fact, during atomic crystal growth one can observe changes in atomic steps, and with colloidal crystals, one can monitor the individual building blocks of the crystal. Colloids and atoms crystallize under the influence of different forces acting at different lengthscales as seen in Table 1

A number of large wind farms are modelled using large eddy simulations to elucidate the entrainment process. A reference simulation without turbines and three farm simulations with different degrees of imposed atmospheric turbulence are presented. The entrainment process is assessed using proper orthogonal decomposition, which is employed to detect the largest and most energetic coherent turbulent structures. The dominant lengthscales responsible for the entrainment process are shown to grow further into the wind farm, but to be limited in extent by the streamwise turbine spacing, which could be taken into account when developing farm layouts. The self-organized motion or large coherent structures also yield high correlations between the power productions of consecutive turbines, which can be exploited through dynamic farm control. This article is part of the themed issue 'Wind energy in complex terrains'.

When a liquid droplet impacts a hot solid surface, enough vapor may be generated under it as to prevent its contact with the solid. The minimum solid temperature for this so-called Leidenfrost effect to occur is termed the Leidenfrost temperature, or the dynamic Leidenfrost temperature when the droplet velocity is non-negligible. We observe the wetting/drying and the levitation dynamics of the droplet impacting on an (isothermal) smooth sapphire surface using high speed total internal reflection imaging, which enables us to observe the droplet base up to about 100 nm above the substrate surface. By this method we are able to reveal the processes responsible for the transitional regime between the fully wetting and the fully levitated droplet as the solid temperature increases, thus shedding light on the characteristic time- and length-scales setting the dynamic Leidenfrost temperature for droplet impact on an isothermal substrate.

Photon correlation spectroscopy in the depolarized mode has been used to monitor the reorientational dynamics of Aroclor (A1248) (polychlorinated biphenyls) that contain in solutions various amounts of low and high molecular weight (M{sub W}) polymers. For the high M{sub W} polymer/A1248 solutions the authors observe a very small dependence of the stretched exponential parameter {beta} on temperature. In contrast, the low M{sub W} polymer/A1248 solutions display a pronounced temperature dependence of {beta}. These preliminary experiments allow them to use the effect of modification of the solvent dynamics by added polymer to estimate the lengthscale of cooperative motion in glass forming systems from the size of the polymer chain.

A number of large wind farms are modelled using large eddy simulations to elucidate the entrainment process. A reference simulation without turbines and three farm simulations with different degrees of imposed atmospheric turbulence are presented. The entrainment process is assessed using proper orthogonal decomposition, which is employed to detect the largest and most energetic coherent turbulent structures. The dominant lengthscales responsible for the entrainment process are shown to grow further into the wind farm, but to be limited in extent by the streamwise turbine spacing, which could be taken into account when developing farm layouts. The self-organized motion or large coherent structures also yield high correlations between the power productions of consecutive turbines, which can be exploited through dynamic farm control.This article is part of the themed issue 'Wind energy in complex terrains'.

Understanding the relationship between the material structural details, the geometrical confining constraints, the local dynamical events and the global rheological response is at the core of present investigations on complex fluid properties. In the present article, this problem is addressed on a model yield stress fluid made of highly entangled polymer gels of Carbopol which follows at the macroscopic scale the well-known Herschel-Bulkley rheological law. First, performing local rheology measurements up to high shear rates ([Formula: see text] s(-1))and under confinement, we evidence unambiguously the breakdown of bulk rheology associated with cooperative processes under flow. Moreover, we show that these behaviors are fully captured with a unique cooperativity length [Formula: see text] over the whole range of experimental conditions. Second, we introduce an original optical microscopy method to access structural properties of the entangled polymer gel in the direct space. Performing image correlation spectroscopy of fluorophore-loaded gels, the characteristic size D of carbopol gels microstructure is determined as a function of preparation protocol. Combining both dynamical and structural information shows that the measured cooperative length [Formula: see text] corresponds to 2-5 times the underlying structural size D, thus providing a strong grounding to the "Shear Transformation Zones" modeling approach.

The scour and burial of submarine objects is an area of interest for engineers, oceanographers and military personnel. Given the limited availability of field observations, there exists a need to accurately describe the hydrodynamics and sediment response around an obstacle using numerical models. In this presentation, we will compare observations of submarine pipeline scour with model predictions. The research presented here uses the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model FLOW-3D. FLOW-3D, developed by Flow Science in Santa Fe, NM, is a 3-dimensional finite-difference model that solves the Navier-Stokes and continuity equations. Using the Volume of Fluid (VOF) technique, FLOW-3D is able to resolve fluid-fluid and fluid-air interfaces. The FAVOR technique allows for complex geometry to be resolved with rectangular grids. FLOW-3D uses a bulk transport method to describe sediment transport and feedback to the hydrodynamic solver is accomplished by morphology evolution and fluid viscosity due to sediment suspension. Previous investigations by the authors have shown FLOW-3D to well-predict the hydrodynamics around five static scoured bed profiles and a stationary pipeline (``Modelling of Flow Around a Cylinder Over a Scoured Bed,'' submit to Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering). Following experiments performed by Mao (1986, Dissertation, Technical University of Denmark), we will be performing model-data comparisons of length and time scales for scour around a pipeline. Preliminary investigations with LES and k-ɛ closure schemes have shown that the model predicts shorter time scales in scour hole development than that observed by Mao. Predicted time and lengthscales of scour hole development are shown to be a function of turbulence closure scheme, grain size, and hydrodynamic forcing. Subsequent investigations consider variable wave-current flow regimes and object burial. This investigation will allow us to identify different regimes for the

Faults have a finite thickness and commonly contain fault rocks of heterogeneous composition, leading to rheological contrasts between intermingled lithologies (at the macroscale) and minerals (at the microscale) within the fault zone. The distribution and volumetric ratio of materials with different viscosity, frictional behavior, and preferred deformation mechanism, may therefore be a critical factor controlling the bulk rheology of heterogeneous fault zones. For example, at subgreenschist facies metamorphic conditions, fine-grained phyllosilicate-dominated mudstones tend to experience viscous shearing flow by dissolution-precipitation creep, whereas coarse grained quartz-dominated sandstones tend to act like competent, brittle volumes. In the rock record, deformation of mixed lithologies is well represented in tectonic mélanges. The subgreenschist facies (P defined by slickenfibre-coated shear surfaces linked by quartz-calcite extension veins. The frequency-size distribution of competent lenses (phacoids) in the Chrystalls Beach Complex follows a power-law distribution and is scale-invariant. The exponent of the power-law distribution varies with dominant deformation style, and is high in zones of dominantly continuous deformation - relating to a high matrix fraction, predominance of small phacoids, and small phacoid aspect ratios, whereas a low power-law exponent relates to a small matrix fraction and localized deformation accommodated on shear discontinuities. This variation in power-law exponent indicates that whether deformation occurs predominantly by continuous or discontinuous deformation may be predicted from the shape of the frequency-size distribution of competent lenses, and supports the hypothesis that bulk rheology is determined by the volume fraction of competent material. The distribution of competent material likely affects the seismic style of actively deforming fault zones. The lengthscales of shear discontinuities are likely to be a factor

Macroscale turbulent coherent flow structures in a natural fast-flowing river were examined with a combination of a novel 2 MHz Acoustic Doppler Beam (ADB) and a Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) to characterize the streamwise horizontal lengthscales and persistence of coherent flow structures by measuring the frequency (f)-streamwise-wavenumber (ks) energy density velocity spectrum, E(f, ks), for the first time in natural rivers. The ADB was deployed under a range of Froude numbers (0.1-0.6) at high Reynolds numbers (˜106) based on depth and velocity conditions within a gravel bed reach of the Kootenai River, Idaho. The MLE employed on the ADB data increased our ability to describe river motions with relatively long (>10 m) lengthscales in ˜1 m water depths. The E(f, ks) spectra fell along a ridge described by V = f/ks, where Vis the mean velocity over depth, consistent with Taylor's hypothesis. New, consistent lengthscale measures are defined based on averaged wavelengths of the low-frequencyE(f, ks) and coherence spectra. Energetic (˜50% of the total spectral energy), low-frequency (f 1 m/s,Lmwere found to be significantly longer than their corresponding coherence lengths, suggesting that the turbulent structures evolve rapidly under these conditions. This is attributed to the stretching and concomitant deformation of preexisting macroturbulent motions by the ubiquitous bathymetry-induced spatial flow accelerations present in a natural gravel bed river.

We present a SANS study of the length-scale dependence of chain deformation by means of a suitable labeling in dense, cross-linked elastomers of the HDH-type. This lengthscale is controlled by the size of the label as well as the cross-link density. The results are compared to long homopolymers. The data are analyzed by means of the tube model of topology in rubber elasticity in combination with the random-phase approximation (RPA) to account for interchain correlations. Chain degradation during cross linking is treated by the standard RPA approach for polydisperse multicomponent systems. A transition from locally freely fluctuating to tube-constrained segmental motion was observed. (orig.)

We present a SANS study of the length-scale dependence of chain deformation by means of a suitable labeling in dense, cross-linked elastomers of the HDH-type. This lengthscale is controlled by the size of the label as well as the cross-link density. The results are compared to long homopolymers. The data are analyzed by means of the tube model of topology in rubber elasticity in combination with the random-phase approximation (RPA) to account for interchain correlations. Chain degradation during cross linking is treated by the standard RPA approach for polydisperse multicomponent systems. A transition from locally freely fluctuating to tube-constrained segmental motion was observed. (orig.)

We analytically derive the expected number density distribution of Nambu-Goto cosmic string loops at any redshift soon after the time of string formation to today. Our approach is based on the Polchinski-Rocha model of loop formation from long strings which we adjust to fit numerical simulations and complement by a phenomenological modelling of gravitational backreaction. Cosmological evolution drives the loop distribution towards scaling on all lengthscales in both the radiation and matter era. Memory of any reasonable initial loop distribution in the radiation era is shown to be erased well before Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. In the matter era, the loop distribution reaches full scaling, up to some residual loops from the radiation era which may be present for extremely low string tension. Finally, the number density of loops below the gravitational cutoff is shown to be scale independent, proportional to a negative power of the string tension and insensitive to the details of the backreaction modelling. As an application, we show that the energy density parameter of loops today cannot exceed 10{sup −5} for currently allowed string tension values, while the loop number density cannot be less than 10{sup −6} per Mpc{sup 3}. Our result should provide a more robust basis for studying the cosmological consequences of cosmic string loops.

Full Text Available Measurements of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI have been suggested as potential imaging biomarkers for monitoring tumor response to treatment. However, conventional pulsed-gradient spin echo (PGSE methods incorporate relatively long diffusion times, and are usually sensitive to changes in cell density and necrosis. Diffusion temporal spectroscopy using the oscillating gradient spin echo (OGSE sequence is capable of probing short lengthscales, and may detect significant intracellular microstructural changes independent of gross cell density changes following anti-cancer treatment. To test this hypothesis, SW620 xenografts were treated by barasertib (AZD1152, a selective inhibitor of Aurora B kinase which causes SW620 cancer cells to develop polyploidy and increase in size following treatment, ultimately leading to cell death through apoptosis. Following treatment, the ADC values obtained by both the PGSE and low frequency OGSE methods increased. However, the ADC values at high gradient frequency (i.e. short diffusion times were significantly lower in treated tumors, consistent with increased intracellular restrictions/hindrances. This suggests that ADC values at long diffusion times are dominated by tumor microstructure at long lengthscales, and may not convey unambiguous information of subcellular space. While the diffusion temporal spectroscopy provides more comprehensive means to probe tumor microstructure at various lengthscales. This work is the first study to probe intracellular microstructural variations due to polyploidy following treatment using diffusion MRI in vivo. It is also the first observation of post-treatment ADC changes occurring in opposite directions at short and long diffusion times. The current study suggests that temporal diffusion spectroscopy potentially provides pharmacodynamic biomarkers of tumor early response which distinguish microstructural variations following

The manipulation of polymers and biological molecules or the control of chemical reactions on a nanometer scale by means of laser pulses shows great promise for applications in modern nanotechnology, biotechnology, molecular medicine or chemistry. A controllable, parallel, highly efficient and very local heat conversion of the incident laser light into metal nanoparticles without ablation or fragmentation provides the means for a tool like a 'nanoreactor', a 'nanowelder', a 'nanocrystallizer' or a 'nanodesorber'. In this paper we explain theoretically and show experimentally the interaction of laser radiation with gold nanoparticles on a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layer (one-photon excitation) by means of different laser pulse lengths, wavelengths and pulse repetition rates. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report showing the possibility of highly local (in a 40 nm range) regulated heat insertion into the nanoparticle and its surroundings without ablation of the gold nanoparticles. In an earlier paper we showed that near-infrared femtosecond irradiation can cut labeled DNA sequences in metaphase chromosomes below the diffraction-limited spot size. Now, we use gold as well as silver-enhanced gold nanoparticles on DNA (also within chromosomes) as energy coupling objects for femtosecond laser irradiation with single-and two-photon excitation. We show the results of highly localized destruction effects on DNA that occur only nearby the nanoparticles.

We demonstrate that a near-field microwave microscope based on a transmission line resonator allows imaging in a substantially wide range of frequencies, so that the microscope properties approach those of a spatially resolved impedance analyzer. In the case of an electric probe, the broadband imaging can be used in a direct fashion to separate contributions from capacitive and resistive properties of a sample at lengthscales on the order of one micron. Using a microwave near-field microscope based on a transmission line resonator we imaged the local dielectric properties of a focused ion beam milled structure on a high-dielectric-constant Ba(0.6)Sr(0.4)TiO(3) thin film in the frequency range from 1.3 to 17.4 GHz. The electrostatic approximation breaks down already at frequencies above approximately 10 GHz for the probe geometry used, and a full-wave analysis is necessary to obtain qualitative information from the images.

We present a statistical field theory to describe large lengthscale effects induced by solutes in a cold and otherwise placid liquid. The theory divides space into a cubic grid of cells. The side length of each cell is of the order of the bulk correlation length of the bulk liquid. Large lengthscale states of the cells are specified with an Ising variable. Finer lengthscale effects are described with a Gaussian field, with mean and variance affected by both the large lengthscale field and...

This talk explores in some detail the evolution of the spatial structure and th e statistical properties of partially mixed systems as they evolve on a torus by using a direct numerical simulation of the evolution of continuous material lin es as they are stretched, reoriented, and folded by the flow. In the time scale s of interest to mixing processes, such material lines grow exponentially fast, but much faster than predicted by the Lyapunov exponent. The filament develops into a self-similar structure; frequency distribution of filament densities corr esponding to different times collapses onto an invariant curve by a simple homog eneous scaling. It is shown that this behavior is a direct consequence of a gen eric asymptotic directionality property characteristic of 2D time-periodic flows . Mixture microstructure is also analyzed by computing the evolution of th e distribution of lengthscales in the flow. Once again, the result is a family of self-similar curves that scale homogeneously by the mean lengthscale, which collapses in inverse proportion to the rate of growth of the filament. It is s hown that this rate of collapse, which has direct relevance to mixing applicatio ns, can be accurately and straightforwardly predicted from the ergodic average o f the stretching field. Implications for mixing processes in realistic systems are also discussed.

Using a tight-binding model for a one-dimensional Lieb lattice, we show that the localization length near a gapped flat band behaves differently from the typical Urbach tail in a band gap: instead of reducing monotonically as the energy E moves away from the flat band energy E_{FB}, the presence of the flat band causes a nonmonotonic energy dependence of the localization length. This energy dependence follows a scaling property when the energy is within the spread (W) of uniformly distributed diagonal disorder, i.e. the localization length is only a function of (E-E_{FB})/W. Several other lattices are compared to distinguish the effect of the flat band on the localization length, where we eliminate, shift, or duplicate the flat band, without changing the dispersion relations of other bands. Using the top right element of the Green's matrix, we derive an analytical relation between the density of states and the localization length, which shines light on these properties of the latter, including a summation rul...

Full Text Available Aim of study: The study was conducted to characterize the impacts of plant roots systems (e.g., root lengthdensity and root biomass on soil preferential flow in forest ecosystems. Area of study: The study was carried out in Jiufeng National Forest Park, Beijing, China. Material and methods: The flow patterns were measured by field dye tracing experiments. Different species (Sophora japonica Linn,Platycladus orientalis Franco, Quercus dentata Thunbwere quantified in two replicates, and 12 soil depth were applied. Plant roots were sampled in the sieving methods. Root lengthdensity and root biomass were measured by WinRHIZO. Dye coverage was implied in the image analysis, and maximum depth of dye infiltration by direct measurement. Main results: Root lengthdensity and root biomass decreased with the increasing distance from soil surface, and root lengthdensity was 81.6% higher in preferential pathways than in soil matrix, and 66.7% for root biomass with respect to all experimental plots. Plant roots were densely distributed in the upper soil layers. Dye coverage was almost 100% in the upper 5-10 cm, but then decreased rapidly with soil depth. Root lengthdensity and root biomass were different from species: Platycladus orientalis Franco > Quercus dentata Thunb > Sophora japonica Linn. Research highlights: The results indicated that fine roots systems had strong effects on soil preferential flow, particularly root channels enhancing nutrition transport across soil profiles in forest dynamics.

Patterning materials efficiently at the smallest lengthscales is a longstanding challenge in nanotechnology. Electron-beam lithography (EBL) is the primary method for patterning arbitrary features, but EBL has not reliably provided sub-4 nm patterns. The few competing techniques that have achieved this resolution are orders of magnitude slower than EBL. In this work, we employed an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope for lithography to achieve unprecedented resolution. Here we show aberration-corrected EBL at the one nanometer lengthscale using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and have produced both the smallest isolated feature in any conventional resist (1.7 ± 0.5 nm) and the highest density patterns in PMMA (10.7 nm pitch for negative-tone and 17.5 nm pitch for positive-tone PMMA). We also demonstrate pattern transfer from the resist to semiconductor and metallic materials at the sub-5 nm scale. These results indicate that polymer-based nanofabrication can achieve feature sizes comparable to the Kuhn length of PMMA and ten times smaller than its radius of gyration. Use of aberration-corrected EBL will increase the resolution, speed, and complexity in nanomaterial fabrication.

We consider spatial stochastic models, which can be applied e.g. to telecommunication networks with two hierarchy levels. In particular, we consider two Cox processes concentrated on the edge set of a random tessellation, where the points can describe the locations of low-level and high-level network components, respectively, and the edge set the underlying infrastructure of the network, like road systems, railways, etc. Furthermore, each low-level component is marked with the shortest path along the edge set to the nearest high-level component. We investigate the typical shortest path length of the resulting marked point process, which is an important characteristic e.g. in performance analysis and planning of telecommunication networks. In particular, we show that its distribution converges to simple parametric limit distributions if a certain scaling factor converges to zero and infinity, respectively. This can be used to approximate the density of the typical shortest path length by analytical formulae.

Constant temperature hotwire anemometry data were acquired to determine the inlet turbulence conditions of a transonic turbine blade linear cascade. Flow conditions and angles were investigated that corresponded to the take-off and cruise conditions of the Variable Speed Power Turbine (VSPT) project and to an Energy Efficient Engine (EEE) scaled rotor blade tip section. Mean and turbulent flowfield measurements including intensity, lengthscale, turbulence decay, and power spectra were determined for high and low turbulence intensity flows at various Reynolds numbers and spanwise locations. The experimental data will be useful for establishing the inlet boundary conditions needed to validate turbulence models in CFD codes.

Scalings of the density peak and pellet penetration length in ITER are developed based on simulations using 1.5D BALDUR integrated predictive modeling code. In these simulations , the pellet ablation is described by the Neutral Gas Shielding (NGS) model with grad-B drift effect taken into account. The NGS pellet model is coupled with a plasma core transport model, which is a combination of an MMM95 anomalous transport model and an NCLASS neoclassical transport model. The BALDUR code with a combination of MMM95 and NCLASS models, together with the NGS model, is used to simulate the time evolution of plasma current, ion and electron temperatures, and density profiles for ITER standard type I ELMy H-mode discharges during the pellet injection. As a result, the scaling of the density peak and pellet penetration length at peak density can be established using this set of predictive simulations that covers a wide range of ITER plasma conditions and pellet parameters. The multiple regression technique is utilized in the development of the scalings. It is found that the scaling for density at center is sensitive to both the plasma and pellet parameters; whereas the scalings for density and location of the additional peak are sensitive to the pellet parameters only.

Concerns over global climate change associated with fossil-fuel consumption continue to drive the development of electrochemical alternatives for energy technology. Proton exchange fuel cells are a particularly promising technology for stationary power generation, mobile electronics, and hybrid engines in automobiles. For these devices to work efficiently, direct electrical contacts between the anode and cathode must be avoided; hence, the separator material must be electronically insulating but highly proton conductive. As a result, researchers have examined a variety of polymer electrolyte materials for use as membranes in these systems. In the optimization of the membrane, researchers are seeking high proton conductivity, low electronic conduction, and mechanical stability with the inclusion of water in the polymer matrix. A considerable number of potential polymer backbone and side chain combinations have been synthesized to meet these requirements, and computational studies can assist in the challenge of designing the next generation of technologically relevant membranes. Such studies can also be integrated in a feedback loop with experiment to improve fuel cell performance. However, to accurately simulate the currently favored class of membranes, perfluorosulfonic acid containing moieties, several difficulties must be addressed including a proper treatment of the proton-hopping mechanism through the membrane and the formation of nanophase-separated water networks. We discuss our recent efforts to address these difficulties using methods that push the limits of computer simulation and expand on previous theoretical developments. We describe recent advances in the multistate empirical valence bond (MS-EVB) method that can probe proton diffusion at the nanometer-lengthscale and accurately model the so-called Grotthuss shuttling mechanism for proton diffusion in water. Using both classical molecular dynamics and coarse-grained descriptions that replace atomistic

Many modern theories which try to unite gravity with the Standard Model of particle physics, as e.g. string theory, propose two key modifications to the commonly known physical theories: i) the existence of additional space dimensions; ii) the existence of a minimal length distance or maximal resolution. While extra dimensions have received a wide coverage in publications over the last ten years (especially due to the prediction of micro black hole production at the LHC), the phenomenology of models with a minimal length is still less investigated. In a summer study project for bachelor students in 2010 we have explored some phenomenological implications of the potential existence of a minimal length. In this paper we review the idea and formalism of a quantum gravity induced minimal length in the generalised uncertainty principle framework as well as in the coherent state approach to non-commutative geometry. These approaches are effective models which can make model-independent predictions for experiments a...

A partial non-dimensionalization of the Navier-Stokes equations is used to obtain order of magnitude estimates of the rate-controlling transport processes in the reacting portion of a fire plume as a function of lengthscale. Over continuum lengthscales, buoyant times scales vary as the square root of the lengthscale; advection time scales vary as the lengthscale, and diffusion time scales vary as the square of the lengthscale. Due to the variation with lengthscale, each process is dominant over a given range. The relationship of buoyancy and baroclinc vorticity generation is highlighted. For numerical simulation, first principles solution for fire problems is not possible with foreseeable computational hardware in the near future. Filtered transport equations with subgrid modeling will be required as two to three decades of lengthscale are captured by solution of discretized conservation equations. By whatever filtering process one employs, one must have humble expectations for the accuracy obtainable by numerical simulation for practical fire problems that contain important multi-physics/multi-length-scale coupling with up to 10 orders of magnitude in lengthscale.

Like filled pasta, rolled or folded graphene can form a large nanocapsule surrounding a hollow interior. Use as a molecular carrier, however, requires understanding of the opening of such vessels. Here, we investigate a monolayer sheet of graphene as a theoretical trial platform for such a nanocapsule. The graphene is bonded to itself via aligned disulfide (S-S) bonds. Through theoretical analysis and atomistic modeling, we probe the critical nonbonded length (free length, L{sub crit}) that induces fracture-like progressive unfolding as a function of folding radius (R{sub i}). We show a clear linear scaling relationship between the length and radius, which can be used to determine the necessary bond density to predict mechanical opening/closing. However, stochastic dissipated energy limits any exact elastic formulation, and the required energy far exceeds the dissociation energy of the S-S bond. We account for the necessary dissipated kinetic energy through a simple scaling factor (Ω), which agrees well with computational results.

Full Text Available The slope length factor is one of the parameters of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE and is sometimes calculated based on a digital elevation model (DEM. The methods for calculating the slope length factor are important because the values obtained may depend on the methods used for calculation. The purpose of this study was to compare the difference in spatial distribution of the slope length factor between the different methods at a watershed scale. One method used the uniform slope length factor equation (USLFE where the effects of slope irregularities (such as slope gradient, etc. on soil erosion by water were not considered. The other method used segmented slope length factor equation(SSLFE which considered the effects of slope irregularities on soil erosion by water. The Arc Macro Language (AML Version 4 program for the revised universal soil loss equation(RUSLE.which uses the USLFE, was chosen to calculate the slope length factor. In a parallel analysis, the AML code of RUSLE Version 4 was modified according to the SSLFE to calculate the slope length factor. Two watersheds with different slope and gully densities were chosen. The results show that the slope length factor and soil loss using the USLFE method were lower than those using the SSLFE method, especially on downslopes watershed with more frequent steep slopes and higher gully densities. In addition, the slope length factor and soil loss calculated by the USLFE showed less spatial variation.

Many modern theories which try to unite gravity with the Standard Model of particle physics, as e.g. string theory, propose two key modifications to the commonly known physical theories: - the existence of additional space dimensions - the existence of a minimal length distance or maximal resolution. While extra dimensions have received a wide coverage in publications over the last ten years (especially due to the prediction of micro black hole production at the LHC), the phenomenology of models with a minimal length is still less investigated. In a summer study project for bachelor students in 2010 we have explored some phenomenological implications of the potential existence of a minimal length. In this paper we review the idea and formalism of a quantum gravity induced minimal length in the generalised uncertainty principle framework as well as in the coherent state approach to non- commutative geometry. These approaches are effective models which can make model-independent predictions for experiments and are ideally suited for phenomenological studies. Pedagogical examples are provided to grasp the effects of a quantum gravity induced minimal length. (orig.)

A three-dimensional root lengthdensity distribution function is introduced that made it possible to compare two empirical uptake models with a more mechanistic uptake model. Adding a compensation component to the more empirical model resulted in predictions of root water uptake distributions

problem. Since the axion is the (pseudo-) Goldstone boson of a broken U(1) global symmetry, quantum gravitational global symmetry violations could reinstate the CP problem even in the presence of the axion. We show that in the presence of massless neutrinos possible conflicts with the axion solution can be resolved. Demanding a viable axion solution of the strong CP problem, we derive new bounds on neutrino masses. In addition, we investigate the QCD vacuum energy screening mechanism for light quarks. It is well-known that the θ-dependence of the QCD vacuum vanishes linearly with the lightest quark mass. By an analogy with Schwinger pair creation in a strong electric field, we consider vacuum screening by η' bubble nucleation. We find that using the standard instanton approximation for the η' potential, the linear dependence is not recovered. We take this as an indication for the non-analyticity of the QCD vacuum energy proposed by Witten. In the last part of this thesis, we are concerned with gravitational effects on cosmological scales. The recent Planck data indicate that one of the best motivated dark matter candidates, the axion, is in conflict with bounds on isocurvature perturbations. We show that the isocurvature fluctuations can be efficiently suppressed when introducing a non-minimal kinetic coupling for the axion field during inflation. Thus, the axion can be a viable dark matter candidate for a large range of parameters. We show that the same coupling allows for the Standard Model Higgs to drive inflation and the dark matter density to be produced by the axion. Gravitational effects on large scales would also be sensitive to a possible mass for the graviton. However, such a modification has been known to be plagued by inconsistencies. In light of the recent proposal of a ghost-free theory of massive gravity by de Rham, Gabadadze and Tolley, we investigate the cubic order interactions of this theory in terms of helicities of a massive spin-2

The application of hemp fibers as a reinforcement of composite materials necessitates the characterization of fiber strength scatter and the effect of fiber length on its strength. With this aim, elementary hemp fibers were tested in tension at two different gage lengths. Due to the similar morphology of hemp and flax fibers, the probabilistic strength models derived and verified for the latter were applied to the former. The fiber strength was found to agree with the modified Weibull distribution. The modeling approaches developed for describing the variability of the strength and failure strain of elementary flax fibers are shown to be also applicable to hemp fibers.

A combined continuous-discontinuous framework for failure is presented. Continuous failure is described with a gradient enhanced damage model and discontinuous failure is introduced by adding discontinuities to finite elements through a node-based enhancement. The continuous model contains a length

There is a strong relationship between the age of menarche, the length of the menstrual cycle and menstrual bleeding and fracture risk in the postmenopausal period. Evaluation of the menstrual cycle length and lumbar bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. We investigated three groups of postmenopausal women (each - n = 50). The first group included women with menstrual duration of 27 days during reproductive age, the second group included postmenopausal women with menstrual duration of 28 days during the reproductive age, and the third group consisted of postmenopausal women with menstrual duration of 30 days during reproductive age. The average age of women was 58.80 +/- 0.94 y. in the first group, 60.36 +/- 5.12 y. in the second group and -61.84 +/- 0.80 y. in the third group. Age, age of menarche, number of childbirths, length of the menstrual cycle and menstrual bleeding, and lumbar bone density were assessed and registered for each woman. We used DXA in a anterior-posterior projection to assess the bone density of the lumbar spine; the obtained results are shown in gram/cm2. The women from the third group, with average menstrual cycle length of 30 days, reach menopause at a significantly later age, have longer menstrual cycle and shorter menstrual bleeding, and higher lumbar spine bone density, compared to the other two groups. The data from our research show that women with anamnesis for average normal menstrual cycle length of 30 days reach menopausal period at a significantly later age, have shorter menstrual bleeding, and higher lumbar spine bone density compared to those with shorter menstrual cycle duration (27 and 28 days).

The central problem in the study of glass-forming liquids and other glassy systems is the understanding of the complex structural relaxation and rapid growth of relaxation times seen on approaching the glass transition. A central conceptual question is whether one can identify one or more growing lengthscale(s) associated with this behavior. Given the diversity of molecular glass-formers and a vast body of experimental, computational and theoretical work addressing glassy behavior, a number of ideas and observations pertaining to growing lengthscales have been presented over the past few decades, but there is as yet no consensus view on this question. In this review, we will summarize the salient results and the state of our understanding of lengthscales associated with dynamical slow down. After a review of slow dynamics and the glass transition, pertinent theories of the glass transition will be summarized and a survey of ideas relating to lengthscales in glassy systems will be presented. A number of studies have focused on the emergence of preferred packing arrangements and discussed their role in glassy dynamics. More recently, a central object of attention has been the study of spatially correlated, heterogeneous dynamics and the associated lengthscale, studied in computer simulations and theoretical analysis such as inhomogeneous mode coupling theory. A number of static lengthscales have been proposed and studied recently, such as the mosaic lengthscale discussed in the random first-order transition theory and the related point-to-set correlation length. We will discuss these, elaborating on key results, along with a critical appraisal of the state of the art. Finally we will discuss lengthscales in driven soft matter, granular fluids and amorphous solids, and give a brief description of lengthscales in aging systems. Possible relations of these lengthscales with those in glass-forming liquids will be discussed.

We use data from the National Basketball Association (NBA) to analyze the impact of minimum salaries on an employee’s career length. The NBA has a salary structure in which the minimum salary a player can receive increases with the player’s years of experience. Salary schedules similar to the NBA’s exist in public education, federal government agencies, the Episcopalian church, and unionized industries. Even though the magnitude of the salaries in the NBA differs from other industries, this s...

Modeling the wide range of scales of geophysical processes with direct numerical simulations (DNS) is currently not feasible. It is therefore typical to explicitly resolve only the large energy-containing scales and to parameterize the unresolved small scales. One approach to separate the scales is by means of spatial filters and here we discuss practical considerations regarding the choice of a volume averaging scale L. We use a macroscopically homogeneous scalar field and quantify the smoothness of the filtered field using a noise metric, ν, defined by the standard deviation of the filtered field normalized by the domain-averaged value of the field. For illustration, we consider the continuum modeling of the particle phase in discrete element method (DEM) simulations and the salt fingers in DNS of double-diffusive convection. We find that ν2 follows an inverse power law dependence on L with an exponent and coefficients proportional to the domain-averaged field value. The empirical power law relation can aid in the development of continuum models from fully resolved simulations while also providing uncertainty estimates of the modeled continuum fields.

We establish several properties of the integrated density of states for random quantum graphs: Under appropriate ergodicity and amenability assumptions, the integrated density of states can be defined using an exhaustion procedure by compact subgraphs. A trace per unit volume formula holds, similarly as in the Euclidean case. Our setting includes periodic graphs. For a model where the edge length are random and vary independently in a smooth way we prove a Wegner estimate and related regularity results for the integrated density of states. These results are illustrated for an example based on the Kagome lattice. In the periodic case we characterise all compactly supported eigenfunctions and calculate the position and size of discontinuities of the integrated density of states.

The development of Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID)-based magnetometer for two applications, in vivo prepolarized, ultra-low field MRI of humans and dispersive readout of SQUIDs for micro- and nano-scale magnetometery, are the focus of this thesis.

We motivate the importance of studying kinetic scale turbulence for understanding the macroscopic properties of the heliosphere, such as the heating of the solar wind. We then discuss the technique by which kinetic scaledensity fluctuations can be measured using the spacecraft potential, including a calculation of the timescale for the spacecraft potential to react to the density changes. Finally, we compare the shape of the density spectrum at ion scales to theoretical predictions based on a cascade model for kinetic turbulence. We conclude that the shape of the spectrum, including the ion scale flattening, can be captured by the sum of passive density fluctuations at large scales and kinetic Alfven wave turbulence at small scales.

We analyze the behavior of the maximum Thorpe displacement (dT)max and the Thorpe scale LTat the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), extending previous research with new data and improving our studies related to the novel use of the Thorpe method applied to ABL. The maximum Thorpe displacements vary between -900 m and 950 m for the different field campaigns. The maximum Thorpe displacement is always greater under convective conditions than under stable ones, independently of its sign. The Thorpe scale LT ranges between 0.2 m and 680 m for the different data sets which cover different stratified mixing conditions (turbulence shear-driven and convective regions). The Thorpe scale does not exceed several tens of meters under stable and neutral stratification conditions related to instantaneous density gradients. In contrast, under convective conditions, Thorpe scales are relatively large, they exceed hundreds of meters which may be related to convective bursts. We analyze the relation between (dT)max and the Thorpe scale LT and we deduce that they verify a power law. We also deduce that there is a difference in exponents of the power laws for convective conditions and shear-driven conditions. These different power laws could identify overturns created under different mechanisms. References Cuxart, J., Yagüe, C., Morales, G., Terradellas, E., Orbe, J., Calvo, J., Fernández, A., Soler, M., Infante, C., Buenestado, P., Espinalt, Joergensen, H., Rees, J., Vilà, J., Redondo, J., Cantalapiedra, I. and Conangla, L.: Stable atmospheric boundary-layer experiment in Spain (Sables 98). A report, Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 96, 337-370, 2000. Dillon, T. M.: Vertical Overturns: A Comparison of Thorpe and Ozmidov LengthScales, J. Geophys. Res., 87(C12), 9601-9613, 1982. Itsweire, E. C.: Measurements of vertical overturns in stably stratified turbulent flow, Phys. Fluids, 27(4), 764-766, 1984. Kitade, Y., Matsuyama, M. and Yoshida, J.: Distribution of overturn induced by internal

We describe an approach to quantify the lengthscale of a chaotic element of a Rayleigh-Bénard convection layer exhibiting spatiotemporal chaos. The lengthscale of a chaotic element is determined by simultaneously evolving the dynamics of two convection layers with a unidirectional coupling that involves only the time-varying values of the fluid velocity and temperature on the lateral boundaries of the domain. In our results we numerically simulate the full Boussinesq equations for the precise conditions of experiment. By varying the size of the boundary used for the coupling we identify a lengthscale that describes the size of a chaotic element. The lengthscale of the chaotic element is of the same order of magnitude, and exhibits similar trends, as the natural chaotic lengthscale that is based upon the fractal dimension.

We consider the problem of estimating a spatially varying density function, motivated by problems that arise in large-scale radiological survey and anomaly detection. In this context, the density functions to be estimated are the background gamma-ray energy spectra at sites spread across a large geographical area, such as nuclear production and waste-storage sites, military bases, medical facilities, university campuses, or the downtown of a city. Several challenges combine to make this a difficult problem. First, the spectral density at any given spatial location may have both smooth and non-smooth features. Second, the spatial correlation in these density functions is neither stationary nor locally isotropic. Third, the spatial correlation decays at different lengthscales at different locations in the support of the underlying density. Finally, at some spatial locations, there is very little data. We present a method called multiscale spatial density smoothing that successfully addresses these challenges. ...

At CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics) the CLIC (Compact Linear Collider) study is pursuing the design of an electron-positron high-energy linear collider using an innovative concept for the RF (Radio Frequency) power production, the socalled two-beam acceleration scheme. In order to keep the length of the collider in a reasonable range while being able of accelerating electrons and positrons up to 5 TeV, the normal-conducting accelerating structures should operate at very high frequency (in this case 30 GHz). The RF power necessary to feed the accelerating cavities is provided by a second electron beam, the drive beam, running parallel to the main beam. The CLIC Test Facility (CTF) was build with the main aim of studying and demonstrating the feasibility of the two beam acceleration scheme and technology. It is composed of two beams, the drive beam that will generate the 30 GHz RF power and the main beam which will be accelerated by this power. In order to have a good efficiency for the power gen...

Full Text Available Aim: To assess the variations in cone mosaic in myopia and its correlation with axial length (AL. Subjects and Methods: Twenty-five healthy myopic volunteers underwent assessment of photoreceptors using adaptive optics retinal camera at 2° and 3° from the foveal center in four quadrants superior, inferior, temporal and nasal. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 17 (IBM. Multivariable regression analysis was conducted to study the relation between cone density and AL, quadrant around the fovea and eccentricity from the fovea. Results: The mean cone density was significantly lower as the eccentricity increased from 2° from the fovea to 3° (18,560 ± 5455-16,404 ± 4494/mm 2 respectively. There was also a statistically significant difference between four quadrants around the fovea. The correlation of cone density and spacing with AL showed that there was a significant inverse relation of AL with the cone density. Conclusion: In myopic patients with good visual acuity cone density around the fovea depends on the quadrant, distance from the fovea as well as the AL. The strength of the relation of AL with cone density depends on the quadrant and distance.

The structure of several network-forming liquids and glasses is considered, where a focus is placed on the detailed information that is made available by using the method of neutron diffraction with isotope substitution (NDIS). In the case of binary network glass-forming materials with the MX2 stoichiometry (e.g. GeO2, GeSe2, ZnCl2), two different lengthscales at distances greater than the nearest-neighbour distance manifest themselves by peaks in the measured diffraction patterns. The network properties are influenced by a competition between the ordering on these "intermediate" and "extended" lengthscales, which can be manipulated by changing the chemical identity of the atomic constituents or by varying state parameters such as the temperature and pressure. The extended-range ordering, which describes the decay of the pair-correlation functions at large-r, can be represented by making a pole analysis of the Ornstein-Zernike equations, an approach that can also be used to describe the large-r behaviour of the pair-correlation functions for liquid and amorphous metals where packing constraints are important. The first applications are then described of the NDIS method to measure the detailed structure of aerodynamically-levitated laser-heated droplets of "fragile" glass-forming liquid oxides (CaAl2O4 and CaSiO3) at high-temperatures (~2000 K) and the structure of a "strong" network-forming glass (GeO2) under pressures ranging from ambient to ~8 GPa. The high-temperature experiments show structural changes on multiple lengthscales when the oxides are vitrified. The high-pressure experiment offers insight into the density-driven mechanisms of network collapse in GeO2 glass, and parallels are drawn with the high-pressure behaviour of silica glass. Finally, the hydrogen-bonded network of water is considered, where the first application of the method of oxygen NDIS is used to measure the structures of light versus heavy water and a difference of approximately equal

A new mixing-lengthscale is presented for turbulence-closure schemes, with special emphasis on neutral-to-convective conditions in clear and cloudy boundary layers. The lengthscale is intended for a prognostic turbulent-kinetic-energy closure. It is argued that present-day length-scale formulations may easily fail in one of two limiting situations. Schemes based on a local stability measure (e.g.the Richardson number) display unrealistic behaviour and instabilities in the convective limit. This strongly limits the representation of mixing in cloudy boundary layers. On the other hand, it is shown that non-local parcel methods may misrepresent mixing near the surface. The new length-scale formulation combines local and non-local stability in a new way; it uses vertical integrals over the stability (the Richardson number) in a simple 'parcel' framework. The lengthscale matches with surface-layer similarity for near-neutral conditions and displays a realistic convective limit. The use of the length-scale formulation can be extended easily to cloudy boundary layers. The scheme is numerically stable and computationally cheap. The behaviour of the lengthscale is evaluated in a single-column model (SCM) and in a high-resolution limited-area model (LAM). The SCM shows good behaviour in three cases with and without boundary-layer clouds. The prediction of the near-surface wind and temperature in the LAM compares favourably with tower measurements at Cabauw (the Netherlands).

The vector nature of the phonon makes rational design of phononic metamaterials challenging, despite potential in unique wave propagation behavior, such as negative refraction and hyper-lensing. While most designs to date focus on the ``meta-atom'' (building block) design, their ``spatial arrangement'' (non-locality) is equally instrumental in dispersion engineering. Here, we present a generalized design framework (DF) for PMM design, utilizing both ``global'' and ``local'' symmetry concepts. We demonstrate, utilizing specific properties of nonsymmorphic plane groups, PMMs possessing i) a low-frequency in-plane complete spectral gap (ICSG) of 102% (CSG of 88%), ii) a set of polychromatic ICSGs totaling over 100% in normalized gap size. Within the same DF, we further integrate broken symmetry states (BSS) (edge states, waveguides, etc) with designed polarization, (de)localization and group velocities. In particular, we demonstrate how these BSS may be utilized to elucidate signatures of complex polarization fields through phonon-structure interactions, leading to interesting applications in elastic-wave imaging, as well as information retrieval by probing polarization states of scattering bodies over multiple scales.

Strongly correlated systems present fundamental challenges, especially in materials in which electronic correlations cause a strong increase of the effective mass of the charge carriers. Heavy fermion metals — intermetallic compounds of rare earth metals (such as Ce, Sm and Yb) and actinides (such as U, Np and Pu) — are prototype systems for complex and collective quantum states; they exhibit both a lattice Kondo effect and antiferromagnetic correlations. These materials show unexpected phenomena; for example, they display unconventional superconductivity (beyond Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory) and unconventional quantum criticality (beyond the Landau framework). In this Review, we focus on systems in which Landau's Fermi-liquid theory does not apply. Heavy fermion metals and semiconductors are well suited for the study of strong electronic correlations, because the relevant energy scales (for charge carriers, magnetic excitations and lattice dynamics) are well separated from each other, allowing the exploration of concomitant physical phenomena almost independently. Thus, the study of these materials also provides valuable insight for the understanding — and tailoring — of other correlated systems.

Full Text Available Measurement of root system attributes is of critical importance to understand and model plant growth. Root lengthdensity, the length of roots per unit volume of soil, is one of the important parameters required to understand plant performance. Measuring techniques currently in use to assess this parameter, such as for example core washing, are notoriously imprecise and labour-intensive. Roots and soil being inextricably linked, it is virtually impossible to separate them without loosing a significant amount of the root sample to be measured. This noticeably compromises the accuracy of washing techniques. For this reason, non-invasive measurement approaches are highly desirable. Here, a method based on the combination of X-radiography and image analysis is proposed as a new alternative for the measurement of root lengthdensity from intact samples. The successive steps of the method, from sampling to image acquisition are briefly described. A specific measurement algorithm, designed to account for the complex spatial arrangement of the roots within the samples is then presented and discussed in detail.

One-dimensional (1D) infinite periodic systems exhibit vanishing group velocity and diverging density of states (DOS) near band edges. However, in practice, systems have finite sizes and inevitably this prompts the question of whether helpful physical quantities related to infinite systems, such as the group velocity that is deduced from the band structure, remain relevant in finite systems. For instance, one may wonder how the DOS divergence can be approached with finite systems. Intuitively, one may expect that the implementation of larger and larger DOS, or equivalently smaller and smaller group velocities, would critically increase the system length. Based on general 1D-wave-physics arguments, we demonstrate that the large slow-light DOS enhancement of periodic systems can be observed with very short systems, whose lengthsscale with the logarithm of the inverse of the group velocities. The understanding obtained for 1D systems leads us to propose a novel sort of microstructure to enhance light-matter int...

This paper introduces the use of cable dynamics models as a means to explore the mechanics of DNA on long-lengthscales. It is on these lengthscales that DNA forms twisted and curved three-dimensional shapes known as supercoils and loops. These long-lengthscale DNA structures have a pronounced influence on the functions of this molecule within the cell including the packing of DNA in the cell nucleus, transcription, replication and gene repair. We provide a short background to the mechanics...

Calculations for large even numbered carbon ring molecules and band structure calculations for the infinite polyyne chain within the local density approximation are reported. We studied the alternation of bond lengths in this system as a function of size. Particular focus is on alternation in the infinite system. For intermediate and large sized Cn rings with n satisfying n=4N (doubly-antiaromatic rings) there is a substantial first order Jahn-Teller distortion which decreases for large N. On the other hand, for Cn rings satisfying n=4N+2 (doubly-aromatic rings) the second order Jahn-Teller distortion does not produce bond length alternation even by the large C_42 ring. The persistance of aromatic behavior in the very large carbon rings manifests itself in the band structure calculations by making the amount of bond length alternation predicted for the infinite polyyne chain extremely sensitive to the numerical treatment of the Brillouin zone. We have shown that the infinite polyyne has a finite amount of bond length alternation but the condensation energy is very small.

Dark-matter halos show a universal density profile with a scaling such that less massive systems are typically denser. This mass-density relation is well described by a proportionality between the characteristic density of halos and the mean cosmic density at halo formation time. It has recently been shown that this proportionality could be the result of the following simple evolutionary picture. Halos form in major mergers with essentially the same, cosmogony-dependent, dimensionless profile, and then grow inside-outside, as a consequence of accretion. Here we verify the consistency of this picture and show that it predicts the correct zero point of the mass-density relation.

Macro-scale turbulent coherent flow structures in a natural fast-flowing river were examined with a combination of a novel 2 MHz Acoustic Doppler Beam (ADB) and a Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) to characterize the stream-wise horizontal lengthscales and persistence of coherent flow structures by measuring the frequency (f)- streamwise-wavenumber (k) energy density velocity spectrum, E(f,k ), for the first time in natural rivers. The ADB was deployed under a range of Froude numbers (0.1-0.6) at high Reynolds Numbers based on depth and velocity conditions within a gravel-bed reach of the Kootenai River, ID. The MLE employed on the ADB data increased our ability to describe river motions with relatively long (>10 m) lengthscales in ~1 m water depths. The E(f,k) fall along a ridge described by V=f/k, where V is the mean velocity over depth, verifying Taylor's hypothesis. New, consistent lengthscale measures are defined based on averaged wave lengths of the low frequency E(f,k) and coherence spectra. Energetic (~50% of the total spectral energy), low-frequency (f1 m/s, L were found to be significantly longer than their corresponding coherence lengths suggesting that the turbulent structures evolve rapidly under these conditions. This is attributed to the stretching and concomitant deformation of pre-existing macro-turbulent motions by the ubiquitous bathymetry-induced spatial flow accelerations present in a natural gravel-bed river.Mean motion lengths, Lm, (circles) and coherence lengths, Lc, (squares) as a function of the mean streamwise velocity at locations in Zones 1-4.

This paper deals with large scale aspects of Hill's equation (sic) + (a + bp(t)) x = 0, where p is periodic with a fixed period. In particular, the interest is the asymptotic radial density of the stability domain in the (a, b)-plane. It turns out that this density changes discontinuously in a certa

We investigate the matter composition at around the neutron star densities with a model lagrangian satisfying Brown-Rho scaling law. We calculate the neutron star properties such as maximum mass, radius, hyperon compositions and central density. We compare our results with those of Walecka model. (orig.)

One of the important phenomena in Electromigration (EM) is Blech Effect. The existence of Threshold Current Density-Length Product or EM Threshold has such fundamental and technological consequences in the design, manufacture, and testing of electronics. Temperature-dependence of Blech Product had been thermodynamically established and the real behavior of such interconnect materials have been extensively studied. The present paper reviewed the temperature-dependence of EM threshold in metallization lines of different materials and structure as found in relevant published articles. It is expected that the reader can see a big picture from the compiled data, which might be overlooked when it was examined in pieces.

1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Large ScaleDensity Estimation of Blue and Fin Whales ...sensors, or both. The goal of this research is to develop and implement a new method for estimating blue and fin whale density that is effective over...develop and implement a density estimation methodology for quantifying blue and fin whale abundance from passive acoustic data recorded on sparse

Full Text Available Abstract Background Increased mammographic breast density is a moderate risk factor for breast cancer. Different scales have been proposed for classifying mammographic density. This study sought to assess intra-rater agreement for the most widely used scales (Wolfe, Tabár, BI-RADS and Boyd and compare them in terms of classifying mammograms as high- or low-density. Methods The study covered 3572 mammograms drawn from women included in the DDM-Spain study, carried-out in seven Spanish Autonomous Regions. Each mammogram was read by an expert radiologist and classified using the Wolfe, Tabár, BI-RADS and Boyd scales. In addition, 375 mammograms randomly selected were read a second time to estimate intra-rater agreement for each scale using the kappa statistic. Owing to the ordinal nature of the scales, weighted kappa was computed. The entire set of mammograms (3572 was used to calculate agreement among the different scales in classifying high/low-density patterns, with the kappa statistic being computed on a pair-wise basis. High density was defined as follows: percentage of dense tissue greater than 50% for the Boyd, "heterogeneously dense and extremely dense" categories for the BI-RADS, categories P2 and DY for the Wolfe, and categories IV and V for the Tabár scales. Results There was good agreement between the first and second reading, with weighted kappa values of 0.84 for Wolfe, 0.71 for Tabár, 0.90 for BI-RADS, and 0.92 for Boyd scale. Furthermore, there was substantial agreement among the different scales in classifying high- versus low-density patterns. Agreement was almost perfect between the quantitative scales, Boyd and BI-RADS, and good for those based on the observed pattern, i.e., Tabár and Wolfe (kappa 0.81. Agreement was lower when comparing a pattern-based (Wolfe or Tabár versus a quantitative-based (BI-RADS or Boyd scale. Moreover, the Wolfe and Tabár scales classified more mammograms in the high-risk group, 46.61 and 37

The structure and rheological properties of a large number of layered silicate poly(propylene) nanocomposites were studied with widely varying compositions. Morphology characterization at different lengthscales was achieved by SEM, TEM, and XRD. Rheological measurements supplied additional informat

1. Current understanding regarding the effects of boundaries on bird communities has originated largely from studies of forest-non-forest boundaries in mesic systems. To assess whether broad-scale boundary length can affect bird community structure in deserts, and to identify patterns and predictors of species' associations useful in avian conservation, we studied relations between birds and boundary-length variables in Chihuahuan Desert landscapes. Operationally, a boundary was the border between two adjoining land covers, and broad-scale boundary length was the total length of such borders in a large area. 2. Within 2-km radius areas, we measured six boundary-length variables. We analysed bird-boundary relations for 26 species, tested for assemblage-level patterns in species' associations with boundary-length variables, and assessed whether body size, dispersal ability and cowbird-host status were correlates of these associations. 3. The abundances or occurrences of a significant majority of species were associated with boundary-length variables, and similar numbers of species were related positively and negatively to boundary-length variables. 4. Disproportionately small numbers of species were correlated with total boundary length, land-cover boundary length and shrubland-grassland boundary length (variables responsible for large proportions of boundary length). Disproportionately large numbers of species were correlated with roadside boundary length and riparian vegetation-grassland boundary length (variables responsible for small proportions of boundary length). Roadside boundary length was associated (positively and negatively) with the most species. 5. Species' associations with boundary-length variables were not correlated with body size, dispersal ability or cowbird-host status. 6. Synthesis and applications. For the species we studied, conservationists can use the regressions we report as working models to anticipate influences of boundary-length changes

Recently Stanchev et al. (2015) proposed a technique to derive densityscaling relations in a star-forming region from analysis of the probability distribution function of column density. We address the possible dependence of the outcome on the selection of probe zones, applying the method to Planck dust-opacity data on Orion A. The derived steep scaling relation of mean density with index -1.6 in the molecular cloud (so called `Central filament') points to its self-gravitating nature. The result is reproduced also for large parts of the clouds' vicinity which indicates major role of gravity in the energy balance of the entire star-forming region.

Abstract Background Increased mammographic breast density is a moderate risk factor for breast cancer. Different scales have been proposed for classifying mammographic density. This study sought to assess intra-rater agreement for the most widely used scales (Wolfe, Tabár, BI-RADS and Boyd) and compare them in terms of classifying mammograms as high- or low-density. Methods The study covered 3572 mammograms drawn from women included in the DDM-Spain study, carried-out in seven Spanish Autonom...

We present a new method for determining the characteristic lengthscales of strain localization in crustal scale shear zones. This entails determining two parameters that describe the degree of strain heterogeneity in natural shear zones: (1) the strain localization factor, LfRA, defined as the ratio of the shear zone area to a chosen reference area, ARA, and (2) the relative localization intensity, Iloc, a function of the ratio of the mean shear strain to the maximum shear strain measured in a transect of the shear zone. ARA is a geometric homogenization scale determined from autocorrelation functions (ACF) of 2-D images (thin sections, foliation maps and aerial photographs) of shear zone networks on different scales that formed during a single deformational event. When applied to shear zones from a well exposed segment of the frictional-to-viscous transition (FVT) in NE Spain, we found that maxima in LfRA on the mm, cm, m and km scales coincided with the lengthscales of existing mineralogical and lithological heterogeneities. On any of these characteristic lengthscales, Iloc increased both along and across the length of the shear zones, suggesting that the shear zones weakening as a function of time and strain. This is consistent with structural evidence for progressive weakening of the crust on the characteristic lengthscales of strain heterogeneity.

We follow the evolution of galaxy systems in numerical simulation. Our goal is to understand the role of density perturbations of various scales in the formation and evolution of the cosmic web. We perform numerical simulations with the full power spectrum of perturbations, and with spectrum cut at long wavelengths. Additionally, we have one model, where we cut the intermediate waves. We analyze the density field and study the void sizes and density field clusters in different models. Our analysis shows that the fine structure (groups and clusters of galaxies) is created by small-scaledensity perturbations of scale $\\leq 8$ \\Mpc. Filaments of galaxies and clusters are created by perturbations of intermediate scale from $\\sim 8$ to $\\sim 32$ \\Mpc, superclusters of galaxies by larger perturbations. We conclude that the scale of the pattern of the cosmic web is determined by density perturbations of scale up to $\\sim 100$ \\Mpc. Larger perturbations do not change the pattern of the web, but modulate the richness...

We study preconditioning techniques used in conjunction with the conjugate gradient method for solving multi-length-scale symmetric positive definite linear systems originating from the quantum Monte Carlo simulation of electron interaction of correlated materials. Existing preconditioning techniques are not designed to be adaptive to varying numerical properties of the multi-length-scale systems. In this paper, we propose a hybrid incomplete Cholesky (HIC) preconditioner and demonstrate its adaptivity to the multi-length-scale systems. In addition, we propose an extension of the compressed sparse column with row access (CSCR) sparse matrix storage format to efficiently accommodate the data access pattern to compute the HIC preconditioner. We show that for moderately correlated materials, the HIC preconditioner achieves the optimal linear scaling of the simulation. The development of a linear-scaling preconditioner for strongly correlated materials remains an open topic.

Random fiber networks are the structural element of many biological and man-made materials, including connective tissue, various consumer products and packaging materials. In all cases of practical interest the scale at which the material is used and the scale of the fiber diameter or the mean segment length of the network are separated by several orders of magnitude. This precludes solving boundary value problems defined on the scale of the application while resolving every fiber in the system, and mandates the development of continuum equivalent models. To this end, we study the intrinsic geometric and mechanical lengthscales of the network and the size effect associated with them. We consider both Cauchy and micropolar continuum models and calibrate them based on the discrete network behavior. We develop a method to predict the characteristic lengthscales of the problem and the minimum size of a representative element of the network based on network structural parameters and on fiber properties.

We provide Monte Carlo estimates of the scaling of the length L n of the longest increasing subsequences of n-step random walks for several different distributions of step lengths, short and heavy-tailed. Our simulations indicate that, barring possible logarithmic corrections, {{L}n}∼ {{n}θ} with the leading scaling exponent 0.60≲ θ ≲ 0.69 for the heavy-tailed distributions of step lengths examined, with values increasing as the distribution becomes more heavy-tailed, and θ ≃ 0.57 for distributions of finite variance, irrespective of the particular distribution. The results are consistent with existing rigorous bounds for θ, although in a somewhat surprising manner. For random walks with step lengths of finite variance, we conjecture that the correct asymptotic behavior of L n is given by \\sqrt{n}\\ln n , and also propose the form for the subleading asymptotics. The distribution of L n was found to follow a simple scaling form with scaling functions that vary with θ. Accordingly, when the step lengths are of finite variance they seem to be universal. The nature of this scaling remains unclear, since we lack a working model, microscopic or hydrodynamic, for the behavior of the length of the longest increasing subsequences of random walks.

Unusually high bending flexibility has been recently reported for DNA on short lengthscales. We use atomic force microscopy (AFM) in solution to obtain a direct estimate of DNA bending statistics for scales down to one helical turn. It appears that DNA behaves as a Gaussian chain and is well described by the wormlike chain model at lengthscales beyond 3 helical turns (10.5 nm). Below this threshold, the AFM data exhibit growing noise because of experimental limitations. This noise may hide small deviations from the Gaussian behavior, but they can hardly be significant.

The mean rate of energy dissipation in turbulence is traditionally assumed to scale with parameters of the energy-containing large scales, i.e., the root-mean-square fluctuation of the longitudinal velocity u and its correlation length L(u). However, the resultant scaling coefficient C(u) is known to depend on the large-scale configuration of the flow. We define the correlation length L(u2) of the local energy u2, study the scaling coefficient C(u2) with experimental data of several flows, and find a possibility that C(u2) does not depend on the flow configuration. Not L(u) but rather L(u2) could scale with the typical size of the energy-containing eddies, so that L(u2) determines the mean rate at which the energy is transferred from those eddies to the smaller eddies and is eventually dissipated into heat.

Recent researches highlight the additional anisotropic crystallographic axis within the superconducting plane of high temperature superconductors (HTS), demonstrating the superconducting anisotropy of HTS is better understood in the biaxial frame than the previous uniaxial coordinates within the superconducting layer. To quantitatively evaluate the anisotropy of flux pinning and critical current density in HTS, we extend the scaling rule for single-vortex collective pinning in uniaxial superconductors to account for flux-bundle collective pinning in biaxial superconductors. The scaling results show that in a system of random uncorrected point defects, the field dependence of the critical current density is described by a unified function with the scaled magnetic field of the isotropic superconductor. The obtained angular dependence of the critical current density depicts the main features of experimental observations, considering possible corrections due to the strong-pinning interaction.

Processes occurring at macroscopic and microscopic lengthscales across the glass transition (T(g)) in lead-tellurite glass (PbO)(x)(TeO(2))(1-x) (x = 0.1-0.3) are investigated using Brillouin and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. For all the samples, the temperature dependence of the longitudinal acoustic (LA) mode is found to exhibit a universal scaling below T(g) and a rapid softening above T(g). The lower value of elastic modulus at a higher concentration of network modifier PbO, estimated from Brillouin data, arises due to loss of network rigidity. From quantitative analysis of the reduced Raman spectra, several modes are found to exhibit anomalous changes across T(g). Instead of the expected anharmonic behaviour, several modes exhibit hardening, suggesting stiffening of the stretching force constants with temperature, the effect being more pronounced in glasses with higher x. In addition, incorporation of PbO in the glass is also found to narrow down the bond-length distribution, as evident from the sharpening of the Raman bands. The stiffening of the force constants of molecular units at a microscopic lengthscale and the decrease of elastic constant attributed to loss of network rigidity on a macroscopic lengthscale appear to be opposite. These different behaviours at two lengthscales are understood on the basis of a microscopic model involving TeO(n) and PbO units in the structure.

Full Text Available A major hurdle to understanding and exploiting interactions between the stem cell and its environment is the lack of a tool for precise delivery of mechanical cues concomitant to observing sub-cellular adaptation of structure. These studies demonstrate the use of microscale particle image velocimetry (μ-PIV for in situ spatiotemporal mapping of flow fields around mesenchymal stem cells, i.e. murine embryonic multipotent cell line C3H10T1/2, at the subcellular lengthscale, providing a tool for real time observation and analysis of stem cell adaptation to the prevailing mechanical milieu. In the absence of cells, computational fluid dynamics (CFD predicts flow regimes within 12% of μ-PIV measures, achieving the technical specifications of the chamber and the flow rates necessary to deliver target shear stresses at a particular height from the base of the flow chamber. However, our μ-PIV studies show that the presence of cells per se as well as the density at which cells are seeded significantly influences local flow fields. Furthermore, for any given cell or cell seeding density, flow regimes vary significantly along the vertical profile of the cell. Hence, the mechanical milieu of the stem cell exposed to shape changing shear stresses, induced by fluid drag, varies with respect to proximity of surrounding cells as well as with respect to apical height. The current study addresses a previously unmet need to predict and observe both flow regimes as well as mechanoadaptation of cells in flow chambers designed to deliver precisely controlled mechanical signals to live cells. An understanding of interactions and adaptation in response to forces at the interface between the surface of the cell and its immediate local environment may be key for de novo engineering of functional tissues from stem cell templates as well as for unraveling the mechanisms underlying multiscale development, growth and adaptation of organisms.

Root hairs expand the effective root surface to increase the uptake of nutrients and water from the soil. Here the local effects of the two major nitrogen sources, ammonium and nitrate, on root hairs were investigated using split plates. In three contrasting accessions of A. thaliana, namely Col-0, Tsu-0 and Sha, root hairs were differentially affected by the nitrogen forms and their concentration. Root hairs in Sha were short in the absence of nitrate. In Col-0, hair length was moderately decreased with increasing nitrate or ammonium. In all accessions, the root hair density was insensitive to 1,000-fold changes in the ammonium concentrations, when supplied locally as the exclusive nitrogen form. In contrast, the root hair density generally increased with nitrate as the exclusive local nitrogen source. The nitrate sensitivity was reduced at mM concentrations in a loss-of-function mutant of the nitrate transporter and sensor gene NRT1;1 (NPF6.3). Little differences with respect to ammonium were found in a mutant lacking four high affinity AMT-type ammonium transporters, but interestingly, the response to high nitrate was reduced and may indicate a general defect in nitrogen signaling in that mutant. Genetic diversity and the presence of the nitrogen transceptor NRT1;1 explain heterogeneity in the responses of root hairs to different nitrogen forms in Arabidopsis accessions.

Direct-drive-ignition designs with plastic CH ablators create plasmas of long densityscalelengths (L{sub n} {>=} 500 {mu}m) at the quarter-critical density (N{sub qc}) region of the driving laser. The two-plasmon-decay (TPD) instability can exceed its threshold in such long-scale-length plasmas (LSPs). To investigate the scaling of TPD-induced hot electrons to laser intensity and plasma conditions, a series of planar experiments have been conducted at the Omega Laser Facility with 2-ns square pulses at the maximum laser energies available on OMEGA and OMEGA EP. Radiation-hydrodynamic simulations have been performed for these LSP experiments using the two-dimensional hydrocode draco. The simulated hydrodynamic evolution of such long-scale-length plasmas has been validated with the time-resolved full-aperture backscattering and Thomson-scattering measurements. draco simulations for CH ablator indicate that (1) ignition-relevant long-scale-length plasmas of L{sub n} approaching {approx}400 {mu}m have been created; (2) the densityscalelength at N{sub qc} scales as L{sub n}({mu}m) Asymptotically-Equal-To (R{sub DPP} Multiplication-Sign I{sup 1/4}/2); and (3) the electron temperature T{sub e} at N{sub qc} scales as T{sub e}(keV) Asymptotically-Equal-To 0.95 Multiplication-Sign {radical}(I), with the incident intensity (I) measured in 10{sup 14} W/cm{sup 2} for plasmas created on both OMEGA and OMEGA EP configurations with different-sized (R{sub DPP}) distributed phase plates. These intensity scalings are in good agreement with the self-similar model predictions. The measured conversion fraction of laser energy into hot electrons f{sub hot} is found to have a similar behavior for both configurations: a rapid growth [f{sub hot} Asymptotically-Equal-To f{sub c} Multiplication-Sign (G{sub c}/4){sup 6} for G{sub c} < 4] followed by a saturation of the form, f{sub hot} Asymptotically-Equal-To f{sub c} Multiplication-Sign (G{sub c}/4){sup 1.2} for G{sub c} {>=} 4, with the

Gilsocarbon graphite, as a neutron moderator and load-bearing component in the core of the UK fleet of Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors, possesses complex microstructural features including defects/pores over a range of length-scales from nanometres to millimetres in size. As a consequence, this material exhibits different characteristics when specimens of different length-scale are deformed. In this work, the deformation and fracture of this material have been characterised using in situ methods for specimens of micrometre size (meso-scale) and the results are then compared with those measured one length-scale smaller, and those at the macro-scale. At the micro-scale, sampling a volume of material (2 × 2 × 10 μm) excludes micro- and macro-size pores, the strength was measured to be as high as 1000 MPa (an elastic modulus of about 67 GPa). When the specimen size is increased by one order of magnitude to the meso-scale, the strength is reduced to about 100 MPa (an elastic modulus of about 20 GPa) due to the inclusion of micro-size pores. For larger engineering-size specimens that include millimetre-size pores, the strength of the material averages about 20 MPa (an elastic modulus of about 11 GPa). This trend in the data is discussed and considered in the context of selecting the appropriate data for relevant multi-scale modelling.

Full Text Available Values of the momentum roughness length, z0, and displacement height, d, derived from wind profiles and momentum flux measurements, are selected from the literature for a variety of sparse canopies. These include savannah, tiger-bush and several row crops. A quality assessment of these data, conducted using criteria such as available fetch, height of wind speed measurement and homogeneity of the experimental site, reduced the initial total of fourteen sites to eight. These datapoints, combined with values carried forward from earlier studies on the parameterization of z0 and d, led to a maximum number of 16 and 24 datapoints available for d and z0, respectively. The data are compared with estimates of roughness length and displacement height as predicted from a detailed drag partition model, R92 (Raupach, 1992, and a simplified version of this model, R94 (Raupach, 1994. A key parameter in these models is the roughness density or frontal area index, λ. Both the comprehensive and the simplified model give accurate predictions of measured z0 and d values, but the optimal model coefficients are significantly different from the ones originally proposed in R92 and R94. The original model coefficients are based predominantly on measured aerodynamic parameters of relatively closed canopies and they were fitted `by eye'. In this paper, best-fit coefficients are found from a least squares minimization using the z0 and d values of selected good-quality data for sparse canopies and for the added, mainly closed canopies. According to a statistical analysis, based on the coefficient of determination (r2, the number of observations and the number of fitted model coefficients, the simplified model, R94, is deemed to be the most appropriate for future z0 and d predictions. A CR value of 0.35 and a cd1 value of about 20 are found to be appropriate for a large range of canopies varying in density from closed to very sparse. In this case, 99% of the total variance

Laser acoustic approaches to investigating the interaction of elastic waves with microstructure in materials is presented that probe both the micron and nanometer lengthscales. At the micron lengthscale, a full-field imaging approach is described that provides quantitative measurement of amplitude and phase of the out-of-plane acoustical motion at GHz frequencies. Specific lateral acoustic modes can be identified in addition to the primary thickness mode with spatial resolution sufficient to image wavelengths as small as 4.5 microns.

Laser acoustic approaches to investigating the interaction of elastic waves with microstructure in materials is presented that probe both the micron and nanometer lengthscales. At the micron lengthscale, a full-field imaging approach is described that provides quantitative measurement of amplitude and phase of the out-of-plane acoustical motion at GHz frequencies. Specific lateral acoustic modes can be identified in addition to the primary thickness mode with spatial resolution sufficient to image wavelengths as small as 4.5 microns.

We engineered surfaces that permit the adhesion and directed growth of neuronal cell processes but that prevent the adhesion of astrocytes. This effect was achieved based on the spatial distribution of sub-micron-sized cell-repulsive poly(ethylene glycol) [PEG] hydrogels patterned on an otherwise cell-adhesive substrate. Patterns were identified that promoted cellular responses ranging from complete non-attachment, selective attachment, and directed growth at both cellular and subcellular lengthscales. At the highest patterning density where the individual hydrogels almost overlapped, there was no cellular adhesion. As the spacing between individual hydrogels was increased, patterns were identified where neurites could grow on the adhesive surface between hydrogels while astrocytes were unable to adhere. Patterns such as lines or arrays were identified that could direct the growth of these subcellular neuronal processes. At higher hydrogel spacings, both neurons and astrocytes adhered and grew in a manner approaching that of unpatterned control surfaces. Patterned lines could once again direct growth at cellular lengthscales. Significantly, we have demonstrated that the patterning of sub-micron/nano scale cell-repulsive features at microscale lengths on an otherwise cell-adhesive surface can differently control the adhesion and growth of cells and cell processes based on the difference in their characteristic sizes. This concept could potentially be applied to an implantable nerve-guidance device that would selectively enable regrowing axons to bridge a spinal-cord injury without interference from the glial scar.

We present the initial results of an observational study into the variation of the dominant length-scale of quiet solar emission: supergranulation. This length-scale reflects the radiative energy in the plasma of the upper solar chromosphere and transition region at the magnetic network boundaries forming as a result of the relentless interaction of magnetic fields and convective motions of the Sun's interior. We demonstrate that a net difference of ~0.5Mm in the supergranular emission length-scale occurs when comparing observations cycle 22/23 and cycle 23/24 minima. This variation in scale is reproduced in the datasets of multiple space- and ground-based instruments and using different diagnostic measures. By means of extension, we consider the variation of the supergranular length-scale over multiple solar minima by analyzing a subset of the Mt Wilson Solar Observatory (MWO) Ca II K image record. The observations and analysis presented provide a tantalizing look at solar activity in the absence of large-sc...

Processes in complex chemical systems, such as macromolecules, electrolytes, interfaces, micelles and enzymes, can span several orders of magnitude in length and time scales. The length and time scales of processes occurring over this broad time and space window are frequently coupled to give rise to the control necessary to ensure specificity and the uniqueness of the chemical phenomena. A combination of experimental, theoretical and computational techniques that can address a multiplicity of length and time scales is required in order to understand and predict structure and dynamics in such complex systems. This review highlights recent experimental developments that allow one to probe structure and dynamics at increasingly smaller length and time scales. The key theoretical approaches and computational strategies for integrating information across time-scales are discussed. The application of these ideas to understand phenomena in various areas, ranging from materials science to biology, is illustrated in the context of current developments in the areas of liquids and solvation, protein folding and aggregation and phase transitions, nucleation and self-assembly.

Scale can vary by requiring a different number of units to measure the same target. But what are the consequences of using fewer, larger units? We draw on past psychophysical research that shows how using fewer units reduces clutter in measurement, translating to shorter length estimates. Additionally, we propose that larger scale is associated with targets further from a person's immediate experience (i.e., psychologically distant) and higher order mental representation. Evidence from Study 1 indicates that framing a target as further away causes it to be estimated as shorter because people use larger units to measure it compared to when the same target is framed as nearby. Two subsequent studies suggest that direct manipulation of larger (versus smaller) measurement scale produces not only shorter length estimates, but also more distal timing judgments (Study 2) and abstract mental representation (Study 3). Implications for scale and level of mental construal are discussed.

Characteristic lengthscales (CLS) define landscape structure and delimit geomorphic processes. Here we use multiresolution analysis (MRA) to estimate such scales from high-resolution topographic data. MRA employs progressive terrain defocusing, via convolution of the terrain data with Gaussian kernels of increasing standard deviation, and calculation at each smoothing resolution of (i) the probability distributions of curvature and topographic index (defined as the ratio of slope to area in log scale) and (ii) characteristic spatial patterns of divergent and convergent topography identified by analyzing the curvature of the terrain. The MRA is first explored using synthetic 1-D and 2-D signals whose CLS are known. It is then validated against a set of MARSSIM (a landscape evolution model) steady state landscapes whose CLS were tuned by varying hillslope diffusivity and simulated noise amplitude. The known CLS match the scales at which the distributions of topographic index and curvature show scaling breaks, indicating that the MRA can identify CLS in landscapes based on the scaling behavior of topographic attributes. Finally, the MRA is deployed to measure the CLS of five natural landscapes using meter resolution digital terrain model data. CLS are inferred from the scaling breaks of the topographic index and curvature distributions and equated with (i) small-scale roughness features and (ii) the hillslope lengthscale.

A spectroscopic microscope, configured to detect interference spectra of backscattered light in the far zone, quantifies the statistics of refractive-index (RI) distribution via the spectral variance (Σ̃2) of the acquired bright-field image. Its sensitivity to subtle structural changes within weakly scattering, label-free media at subdiffraction scales shows great promise in fields from material science to medical diagnostics. We further investigate the length-scale sensitivity of Σ̃ and reve...

We compute the density redshift-space power spectrum in the presence of tangled magnetic fields and compare it with existing observations. Our analysis shows that if these magnetic fields originated in the early universe then it is possible to construct models for which the shape of the power spectrum agrees with the large scale slope of the observed power spectrum. However requiring compatibility with observed CMBR anisotropies, the normalization of the power spectrum is too low for magnetic fields to have significant impact on the large scale structure at present. Magnetic fields of a more recent origin generically give density power spectrum ∝ 4 which doesn’t agree with the shape of the observed power spectrum at any scale. Magnetic fields generate curl modes of the velocity field which increase both the quadrupole and hexadecapole of the redshift space power spectrum. For curl modes, the hexadecapole dominates over quadrupole. So the presence of curl modes could be indicated by an anomalously large hexadecapole, which has not yet been computed from observation. It appears difficult to construct models in which tangled magnetic fields could have played a major role in shaping the large scale structure in the present epoch. However if they did, one of the best ways to infer their presence would be from the redshift space effects in the density power spectrum.

This invention provides a nano-scaled graphene platelet (NGP) having a thickness no greater than 100 nm and a length-to-width ratio no less than 3 (preferably greater than 10). The NGP with a high length-to-width ratio can be prepared by using a method comprising (a) intercalating a carbon fiber or graphite fiber with an intercalate to form an intercalated fiber; (b) exfoliating the intercalated fiber to obtain an exfoliated fiber comprising graphene sheets or flakes; and (c) separating the graphene sheets or flakes to obtain nano-scaled graphene platelets. The invention also provides a nanocomposite material comprising an NGP with a high length-to-width ratio. Such a nanocomposite can become electrically conductive with a small weight fraction of NGPs. Conductive composites are particularly useful for shielding of sensitive electronic equipment against electromagnetic interference (EMI) or radio frequency interference (RFI), and for electrostatic charge dissipation.

We precisely determine the infrared (IR) lengthscale of the no-core shell model (NCSM). In the NCSM, the $A$-body Hilbert space is truncated by the total energy, and the IR length can be determined by equating the intrinsic kinetic energy of $A$ nucleons in the NCSM space to that of $A$ nucleons in a $3(A-1)$-dimensional hyper-radial well with a Dirichlet boundary condition for the hyper radius. We demonstrate that this procedure indeed yields a very precise IR length by performing large-scale NCSM calculations for $^{6}$Li. We apply our result and perform accurate IR extrapolations for bound states of $^{4}$He, $^{6}$He, $^{6}$Li, $^{7}$Li. We also attempt to extrapolate NCSM results for $^{10}$B and $^{16}$O with bare interactions from chiral effective field theory over tens of MeV.

The phase behavior of A(fmN)(B(N/2)A(N/2))B(1-f)mN multiblock copolymer melts is studied within the weak segregation theory. The interplay between ordering on different lengthscales is shown to cause dramatic changes both in the ordered phase symmetry and periodicity upon small variation of the arc

Mixed biopolymer gels are often used to model semi-solid food products. Understanding of their functional properties requires knowledge about structural elements composing these systems at various lengthscales. This study has been focused on investigating the structural features of mixed cold-set g

We have synthesized nanoporous Au with a dual microscopic lengthscale by exploiting the crystal structure of the alloy precursor. The synthesized mesoscopic material is characterized by stacked Au layers of submicrometer thickness. In addition, each layer displays nanoporosity through the entire bu

The phase behavior of A(fmN)(B(N/2)A(N/2))B(1-f)mN multiblock copolymer melts is studied within the weak segregation theory. The interplay between ordering on different lengthscales is shown to cause dramatic changes both in the ordered phase symmetry and periodicity upon small variation of the arc

Mixed biopolymer gels are often used to model semi-solid food products. Understanding of their functional properties requires knowledge about structural elements composing these systems at various lengthscales. This study has been focused on investigating the structural features of mixed cold-set g

Here we demonstrate high water pinning nanostructures and trapping of water droplets onto surfaces via control of roughness on a single nanometer length-scale generated by deposition of preformed gas phase distinct copper nanoparticles on hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. It was found that the c

Conventionally, the stretching of rubber is modeled exclusively by rotations of segments of the embedded polymer chains; i.e. changes in entropy. However models have not been tested on all relevant lengthscales due to a lack of appropriate probes. Here we present a universal X-ray based method...

Here we demonstrate high water pinning nanostructures and trapping of water droplets onto surfaces via control of roughness on a single nanometer length-scale generated by deposition of preformed gas phase distinct copper nanoparticles on hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. It was found that the

During an observation period of e.g. 10min, the wind direction will differ from its mean direction for short periods of time, and a body of air will pass by from that direction before the direction changes once again. The present paper introduces a new lengthscale which we have labeled the angul...

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Segmental duplication is widely held to be an important mode of genome growth and evolution. Yet how this would affect the global structure of genomes has been little discussed. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we show that equivalent length, or L(e, a quantity determined by the variance of fluctuating part of the distribution of the k-mer frequencies in a genome, characterizes the latter's global structure. We computed the L(es of 865 complete chromosomes and found that they have nearly universal but (k-dependent values. The differences among the L(e of a chromosome and those of its coding and non-coding parts were found to be slight. CONCLUSIONS: We verified that these non-trivial results are natural consequences of a genome growth model characterized by random segmental duplication and random point mutation, but not of any model whose dominant growth mechanism is not segmental duplication. Our study also indicates that genomes have a nearly universal cumulative "point" mutation density of about 0.73 mutations per site that is compatible with the relatively low mutation rates of (1-5 x 10(-3/site/Mya previously determined by sequence comparison for the human and E. coli genomes.

This work considered the quantitative analysis of large written texts. To this end, the text was converted into a time series by taking the sequence of word lengths. The detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) was used for characterizing long-range serial correlations of the time series. To this end, the DFA was implemented within a rolling window framework for estimating the variations of correlations, quantified in terms of the scaling exponent, strength along the text. Also, a filtering derivative was used to compute the dependence of the scaling exponent relative to the scale. The analysis was applied to three famous English-written literary narrations; namely, Alice in Wonderland (by Lewis Carrol), Dracula (by Bram Stoker) and Sense and Sensibility (by Jane Austen). The results showed that high correlations appear for scales of about 50-200 words, suggesting that at these scales the text contains the stronger coherence. The scaling exponent was not constant along the text, showing important variations with apparent cyclical behavior. An interesting coincidence between the scaling exponent variations and changes in narrative units (e.g., chapters) was found. This suggests that the scaling exponent obtained from the DFA is able to detect changes in narration structure as expressed by the usage of words of different lengths.

Recent advances in linear scaling algorithms that circumvent the computational bottlenecks of large-scale electronic structure simulations make it possible to carry out density functional calculations with Gaussian orbitals on molecules containing more than 1000 atoms and 15000 basis functions using current workstations and personal computers. This paper discusses the recent theoretical developments that have led to these advances and demonstrates in a series of benchmark calculations the present capabilities of state-of-the-art computational quantum chemistry programs for the prediction of molecular structure and properties.

In recent work (Martínez-Tossas et al. "Optimal smoothing lengthscale for actuator line models of wind turbine blades", preprint), an optimal body force projection length-scale for an actuator line model has been obtained. This optimization is based on 2-D aerodynamics and is done by comparing an analytical solution of inviscid linearized flow over a Gaussian body force to the potential flow solution of flow over a Joukowski airfoil. The optimization provides a non-dimensional optimal scale ɛ / c for different Joukowski airfoils, where ɛ is the width of the Gaussian kernel and c is the chord. A Gaussian kernel with different widths in the chord and thickness directions can further reduce the error. The 2-D theory developed is extended by simulating a full scale rotor using the optimal body force projection lengthscales. Using these values, the tip losses are captured by the LES and thus, no additional explicit tip-loss correction is needed for the actuator line model. The simulation with the optimal values provides excellent agreement with Blade Element Momentum Theory. This research is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant OISE-1243482, the WINDINSPIRE project).

Some authors have recently argued that a finite-size scaling law for the text-length dependence of word-frequency distributions cannot be conceptually valid. Here we give solid quantitative evidence for the validity of this scaling law, using both careful statistical tests and analytical arguments based on the generalized central-limit theorem applied to the moments of the distribution (and obtaining a novel derivation of Heaps' law as a by-product). We also find that the picture of word-frequency distributions with power-law exponents that decrease with text length [X. Yan and P. Minnhagen, Physica A 444, 828 (2016), 10.1016/j.physa.2015.10.082] does not stand with rigorous statistical analysis. Instead, we show that the distributions are perfectly described by power-law tails with stable exponents, whose values are close to 2, in agreement with the classical Zipf's law. Some misconceptions about scaling are also clarified.

Electromagnetic and thermo-mechanical forces play a major role in nanotube-based materials and devices. Under high-energy electron transport or high current densities, carbon nanotubes fail via sequential fracture. The failure sequence is governed by certain lengthscale and flow of current. We report a unified phenomenological model derived from molecular dynamic simulation data, which successfully captures the important physics of the complex failure process. Length-scale and strain rate-dependent defect nucleation, growth, and fracture in single-walled carbon nanotubes with diameters in the range of 0.47 to 2.03 nm and length which is about 6.17 to 26.45 nm are simulated. Nanotubes with long length and small diameter show brittle fracture, while those with short length and large diameter show transition from ductile to brittle fracture. In short nanotubes with small diameters, we observe several structural transitions like Stone-Wales defect initiation, its propagation to larger void nucleation, formation of multiple chains of atoms, conversion to monatomic chain of atoms, and finally complete fracture of the carbon nanotube. Hybridization state of carbon-carbon bonds near the end cap evolves, leading to the formation of monatomic chain in short nanotubes with small diameter. Transition from ductile to brittle fracture is also observed when strain rate exceeds a critical value. A generalized analytical model of failure is established, which correlates the defect energy during the formation of atomic chain with aspect ratio of the nanotube and strain rate. Variation in the mechanical properties such as elastic modulus, tensile strength, and fracture strain with the size and strain rate shows important implications in mitigating force fields and ways to enhance the life of electronic devices and nanomaterial conversion via fracture in manufacturing.

Full Text Available An experimental investigation was carried out to study the turbulent flow over a flat plate in a subsonic wind tunnel. The enhanced level of turbulence was generated by five wicker grids with square meshes, and different parameters (diameter of the grid rod d = 0.3 to 3 mm and the grid mesh size M = 1 to 30 mm. The velocity of the flow was measured by means of a 1D hot-wire probe, suitable for measurements in a boundary layer. The main aim of the investigation was to explore the influence of the free stream turbulence lengthscale on the onset of laminar-turbulent bypass transition in a boundary layer on a flat plate. For this purpose, several transition correlations were presented, including intensity and lengthscales of turbulence, both at the leading edge of a plate and at the onset of transition. The paper ends with an attempt to create a correlation, which takes into account a simultaneous impact of turbulence intensity and turbulence scale on the boundary layer transition. To assess the isotropy of turbulence, the skewness factor of the flow velocity distribution was determined. Also several longitudinal scales of turbulence were determined and compared (integral scale, dissipation scale, Taylor microscale and Kolmogorov scale for different grids and different velocities of the mean flow U = 4, 6, 10, 15, 20 m/s.

Eco-engineering measures combine the use of living plants and inert mechanical constructions to protect slopes against erosion and shallow mass movement. Whereas in geotechnical engineering several performance standards and guidelines for structural safety and serviceability of construction exist, there is a lack of comparable tools in the field of ecological restoration. Various indicators have been proposed, including the fractal dimension of soil particle size distribution, microbiological parameters, and soil aggregate stability. We present results of an soil aggregate stability investigation and compare them with literature data of the angle of internal friction ?' which is conventionally used in slope stability analysis and soil failure calculation. Aggregate stability tests were performed with samples of differently treated moraine, including soil at low (~15.5 kN/m³) and high (~19.0 kN/m³) dry unit weight, soil planted with Alnus incana (White Alder) as well as the combination of soil planted with alder and inoculated with the mycorrhizal fungus Melanogaster variegatus s.l. After a 20 weeks growth period in a greenhouse, a total of 100 samples was tested and evaluated. Positive correlations were found between the soil aggregate stability and the three variables dry unit weight, root length per soil volume, and degree of mycorrhization. Based on robust statistics it turned out that dry unit weight and mycorrhization degree were strongest correlated with soil aggregate stability. Compared to the non-inoculated control plants, mycorrhized White Alder produced significantly more roots and higher soil aggregate stability. Furthermore, the combined biological effect of plant roots and mycorrhizal mycelia on aggregate stability on soil with low density (~15.5 kN/m³) was comparable to the compaction effect of the pure soil from 15.5 to ~19.0 kN/m³. Literature data on the effect of vegetation on the angle of internal friction ?' of the same moraine showed

Molecular Dynamic and Monte Carlo studies are performed in a system of particles interacting through core-softened (CS) potential, composed by two lengthscales: a repulsive shoulder at short distances and the another a variable scale, that can be repulsive or strongly attractive depending on the parameters used. The system show water-like anomalous behavior. The density, diffusion and structural anomalous regions in the pressure versus temperature phase diagram shrink in pressure as the system becomes more attractive. The transition appears with the increase of the attraction well. We found that the liquid-gas phase transition is Ising-like for all the CS potentials and its critical temperature increases with the increase of the attraction. No Ising-like behavior for the liquid-liquid phase transition was detected in the Monte Carlo simulations what might be due to the presence of stable amorphous phases.

Additional physics beyond standard hydrodynamics is needed to fully model the intracluster medium (ICM); however, as we move to more sophisticated models, it is important to consider the role of magnetic fields and the way the fluid approximation breaks down. This paper represents a first step towards developing a self-consistent model of the ICM by characterizing the statistical properties of magnetic fields in cosmological simulations of galaxy clusters. We find that plasma conditions are largely homogeneous across a range of cluster masses and relaxation states. We also find that the magnetic field lengthscales are resolution dependent and not based on any particular physical process. Energy transfer mechanisms and scales are also identified, and imply the existence of small scale dynamo action. The scales of the small scale dynamo are resolution limited and driven by numerical resistivity and viscosity.

The von Karman lengthscale is able to reflect the size of the local turbulence structure. However, it is not suitable for the near wall region of wall-bounded flows, for its value is almost infinite there. In the present study, a simple and novel lengthscale combining the wall distance and the von Karman lengthscale is proposed by introducing a structural function. The new lengthscale becomes the von Karman lengthscale once local unsteady structures are detected. The proposed method is adopted in a series of turbulent channel flows at different Reynolds numbers. The results show that the proposed lengthscale with the structural function can precisely simulate turbulence at high Reynolds numbers, even with a coarse grid resolution.

In cosmological scenarios with thermal inflation, extra eras of moduli matter domination, thermal inflation and flaton matter domination exist between primordial inflation and the radiation domination of Big Bang nucleosynthesis. During these eras, cosmological perturbations on small scales can enter and re-exit the horizon, modifying the power spectrum on those scales. The largest modified scale, $k_\\mathrm{b}$, touches the horizon size when the expansion changes from deflation to inflation at the transition from moduli domination to thermal inflation. We analytically calculate the evolution of perturbations from moduli domination through thermal inflation and evaluate the curvature perturbation on the constant radiation density hypersurface at the end of thermal inflation to determine the late time curvature perturbation. Our resulting transfer function suppresses the power spectrum by a factor $\\sim 50$ at $k \\gg k_\\mathrm{b}$, with $k_\\mathrm{b}$ corresponding to anywhere from megaparsec to subparsec scal...

We develop an approach for performing scaling analysis of N -step random walks (RWs). The mean square end-to-end distance, , is written in terms of inner persistence lengths (IPLs), which we define by the ensemble averages of dot products between the walker's position and displacement vectors, at the j th step. For RW models statistically invariant under orthogonal transformations, we analytically introduce a relation between and the persistence length, λN, which is defined as the mean end-to-end vector projection in the first step direction. For self-avoiding walks (SAWs) on 2D and 3D lattices we introduce a series expansion for λN, and by Monte Carlo simulations we find that λ∞ is equal to a constant; the scaling corrections for λN can be second- and higher-order corrections to scaling for . Building SAWs with typically 100 steps, we estimate the exponents ν0 and Δ1 from the IPL behavior as function of j . The obtained results are in excellent agreement with those in the literature. This shows that only an ensemble of paths with the same length is sufficient for determining the scaling behavior of , being that the whole information needed is contained in the inner part of the paths.

The purpose was twofold: first, to determine if a lengthscale existed that would cause the greatest augmentation in stagnation region heat transfer for a given turbulence intensity and second, to develop a prediction tool for stagnation heat transfer in the presence of free stream turbulence. Toward this end, a model with a circular leading edge was fabricated with heat transfer gages in the stagnation region. The model was qualified in a low turbulence wind tunnel by comparing measurements with Frossling's solution for stagnation region heat transfer in a laminar free stream. Five turbulence generating grids were fabricated; four were square mesh, biplane grids made from square bars. Each had identical mesh to bar width ratio but different bar widths. The fifth grid was an array of fine parallel wires that were perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical leading edge. Turbulence intensity and integral lengthscale were measured as a function of distance from the grids. Stagnation region heat transfer was measured at various distances downstream of each grid. Data were taken at cylinder Reynolds numbers ranging from 42,000 to 193,000. Turbulence intensities were in the range 1.1 to 15.9 percent while the ratio of integral lengthscale to cylinder diameter ranged from 0.05 to 0.30. Stagnation region heat transfer augmentation increased with decreasing lengthscale. An optimum scale was not found. A correlation was developed that fit heat transfer data for the square bar grids to within +4 percent. The data from the array of wires were not predicted by the correlation; augmentation was higher for this case indicating that the degree of isotropy in the turbulent flow field has a large effect on stagnation heat transfer. The data of other researchers are also compared with the correlation.

We investigate three-scalar mixing in a turbulent coaxial jet, in which a center jet and an annular flow, consisting of acetone-doped air and ethylene respectively, are mixed with the co-flow air. We investigate the effects of the velocity and lengthscale ratios of the annular flow to the center jet. Planar laser-induced fluorescence and Rayleigh scattering are employed to image the scalars. The results show that the velocity ratio alters the relative mean shear rates in the mixing layers between the center jet and the annular flow and between the annular flow and the co-flow, modifying the scalar fields through mean-flow advection, turbulent transport, and small-scale mixing. The lengthscale ratio determines the degree of separation between the center jet and the co-flow. The results show that while varying the velocity ratio can alter the mixing characteristics qualitatively, varying the annulus width only has quantitative effects. The evolution of the mean scalar profiles are dominated by the mean-flow advection, while the shape of the joint probability density function is largely determined by the turbulent transport and molecular diffusion. The results in the present study have implications for understanding and modeling multiscalar mixing in turbulent reactive flows. Supported by NSF.

We quantitatively study the effect of growth-induced reduction of long range structural order on the superconducting transition in epitaxial YBa2Cu3O6.9 films. The corresponding reduction of structural coherence length rc is determined from the width of X-ray diffraction rocking curves. Tc measurements in the films give evidence for the validity of the empirical scaling relation ΔTc~ rc,ab-2, where ΔTc is the disorder-induced reduction of Tc and rc,ab is the structural coherence length in the ab-plane. To explain this algebraic law we propose a simple phenomenological model based on the disorder-induced localization of the charge carriers within each ordered domain of size rc,ab. This picture enables us to precisely determine the Ginzburg-Landau superconducting coherence length in the ab-plane, and we obtain ξab=1.41±0.04 nm.

A synthesis of observations from fast and magmatically-robust intermediate spreading ridges suggest that fine-scale tectonic segments, previously classified as 3rd order, correspond with principle magmatic segments along these ridges, each with their own magmatic plumbing system in the crust and shallow mantle. In this study, we use multi-beam sonar data available for fast and intermediate spreading ridges to determine the length distribution of these segments for comparison with the primary segmentation of the ridge axis found at slower spreading ridges. A study of intermediate, slow and ultraslow-spreading ridges using global satellite-derived bathymetry indicates a dominant segment length of 53 km [Briais and Rabinowicz, J. Geophys. Res. 2002]. However, satellite-derived bathymetry cannot be used to identify fine-scale tectonic segmentation of fast and magmatically-robust intermediate spreading ridges due to the subdued low-relief expression of ridge-axis discontinuities along these spreading rates. This study focuses on the well-mapped regions of the East Pacific Rise between 13.35°S and 18°N, and the Galapagos Spreading Center between 85° and 95.38° W. We reexamine tectonic segmentation of the ridge axis previously identified in the literature and modify the locations of ridge-axis discontinuities defining segment ends in regions where modern multi-beam bathymetric data coverage has improved relative to that available in early studies. Discontinuities of first, second, and third order are used to define tectonic segment lengths. Initial results show a mean segment length of 42 km (standard deviation of 27 km) and a median of 33 km, with 85 segments studied, similar to the segment length distributions observed at slower spreading ridges. To further evaluate the hypothesis of principle magmatic segments, we also examine the relationship between fine-scale tectonic segmentation and properties of the crustal magmatic system imaged in prior seismic studies of

Effects of soil moisture on cotton root lengthdensity (total root length per unit soil volume) and yield under drip irrigation with plastic mulch were studied through field experiments. The results indicate that spatial distributions of root lengthdensity of cotton under various water treatments were basically similar. Horizontally, both root lengthdensities of cotton in wide and narrow rows were similar, and higher than that between mulches. Vertically, root lengthdensity of cotton decreased with increasing soil depth. The distribution of root lengthdensity is different under different irrigation treatments. In conditions of over-irrigation, the root lengthdensity of cotton between mulches would increase. However, it would decrease in both the wide rows and narrow rows. The mean root lengthdensity of cotton increased with increasing irrigation water. Water stress caused the root lengthdensity to increase in lower soil layers. There is a significant correlation between root lengthdensity and yields of cotton at the flower-boll and wadding stages. The regression between irrigation amount and yield of cotton can be expressed as y = -0.0026x2+18.015x-24845 (R2 = 0.959). It showed that the irrigation volume of 3,464.4 m3/hm2 led to op-timal root lengthdensity. The yield of cotton was 6,360 .8 kg/hm2 under that amount of irrigation.

A comparative study is conducted of the original versions of Delayed Detached- Eddy Simulation (DDES) and Improved DDES (IDDES) and these approaches combined with “shear-layer-adapted” (SLA) subgrid length-scale proposed recently for resolving the issue of delayed RANS-to-LES transition in separated shear layers in global hybrid RANS-LES approaches. Computations were carried out of two separated flows: a transonic flow past M 219 cavity and a subsonic flow over NASA wall mounted hump. Results of the computations suggest that the use of the SLA subgrid length-scale considerably accelerates transition to resolved three-dimensional turbulence in the separated shear layers and substantially improves agreement with the experimental data.

We establish the correlation between the diffuse interface and sharp interface descriptions for stressed grain boundary migration by presenting analytical solutions for stressed migration of a circular grain boundary in a bicrystalline phase field domain. The validity and accuracy of the phase field model is investigated by comparing the phase field simulation results against analytical solutions. The phase field model can reproduce precise boundary kinetics and stress evolution provided that a thermodynamically consistent theory and proper expressions for model parameters in terms of physical material properties are employed. Quantitative phase field simulations are then employed to investigate the effect of microstructural lengthscale on microstructure and texture evolution by stressed grain growth in an elastically deformed polycrystalline aggregate. The simulation results reveal a transitional behaviour from normal to abnormal grain growth by increasing the microstructural lengthscale.

Musculoskeletal computer models are often used to study muscle function in children with and without impaired mobility. Calculations of muscle forces depend in part on the assumed strength of each muscle, represented by the peak isometric force parameter, which is usually based on measurements obtained from cadavers of adult donors. The aim of the present study was twofold: first, to develop a method for scaling lower-limb peak isometric muscle forces in typically-developing children; and second, to determine the effect of this scaling method on model calculations of muscle forces obtained for normal gait. Muscle volumes were determined from magnetic resonance (MR) images obtained from ten children aged from 7 to 13yr. A new mass-lengthscaling law was developed based on the assumption that muscle volume and body mass are linearly related, which was confirmed by the obtained volume and body mass data. Two musculoskeletal models were developed for each subject: one in which peak isometric muscle forces were estimated using the mass-lengthscaling law; and another in which these parameters were determined directly from the MR-derived muscle volumes. Musculoskeletal modeling and quantitative gait analysis were then used to calculate lower-limb muscle forces in normal walking. The patterns of muscle forces predicted by the model with scaled peak isometric force values were similar to those predicted by the MR-based model, implying that assessments of muscle function obtained from these two methods are practically equivalent. These results support the use of mass-lengthscaling in the development of subject-specific musculoskeletal models of children.

We report the density depth profile of an as-deposited Ni film and density profile for the same film after controlled electrochemical corrosion by chloride ions, measured by unpolarized neutron reflectometry. The neutron reflectometry measurement of the film after corrosion shows density degradation along the thickness of the film. The density profile as a function of depth, maps the growth of pitting and void networks due to corrosion. The profile after corrosion shows an interesting peaking nature.

Thermally induced phase transformation in NiTi shape memory alloys (SMAs) shows strong size and shape, collectively termed lengthscale effects, at the nano to micrometer scales, and that has important implications for the design and use of devices and structures at such scales. This paper, based on a recently developed multiscale model that utilizes molecular dynamics (MDs) simulations at small scales and MD-verified phase field (PhF) simulations at larger scales, reports results on specific lengthscale effects, i.e. lengthscale effects in martensite phase fraction (MPF) evolution, transformation temperatures (martensite and austenite start and finish) and in the thermally cyclic transformation between austenitic and martensitic phase. The multiscale study identifies saturation points for lengthscale effects and studies, for the first time, the lengthscale effect on the kinetics (i.e. developed internal strains) in the B19‧ phase during phase transformation. The major part of the work addresses small scale single crystals in specific orientations. However, the multiscale method is used in a unique and novel way to indirectly study lengthscale and grain size effects on evolution kinetics in polycrystalline NiTi, and to compare the simulation results to experiments. The interplay of the grain size and the lengthscale effect on the thermally induced MPF evolution is also shown in this present study. Finally, the multiscale coupling results are employed to improve phenomenological material models for NiTi SMA.

A new category of deep-absorbing small molecules is developed. Optimized devices driven by mixed additives show a remarkable short-circuit current of ≈20 mA cm(-2) and a highest power conversion efficiency of 9.06%. A multi-length-scale morphology is formed, which is fully characterized by resonant soft X-ray scattering, high-angle annular dark film image transmission electron microscopy, etc.

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and bone mineral density (BMD) are associated with health and mortality. Because osteoporosis is an age-related condition and LTL is considered to be a biomarker of aging, we hypothesized that shorter LTL could predict lower BMD. The aim of our study was to assess...

Density functional theory (DFT) has become a routine tool for the computation of electronic structure in the physics, materials and chemistry fields. Yet the application of traditional DFT to problems in the biological sciences is hindered, to a large extent, by the unfavourable scaling of the computational effort with system size. Here, we review some of the major software and functionality advances that enable insightful electronic structure calculations to be performed on systems comprising many thousands of atoms. We describe some of the early applications of large-scale DFT to the computation of the electronic properties and structure of biomolecules, as well as to paradigmatic problems in enzymology, metalloproteins, photosynthesis and computer-aided drug design. With this review, we hope to demonstrate that first principles modelling of biological structure-function relationships are approaching a reality.

Microstructures of engineering alloys often contain features at widely different lengthscales. In this contribution, a digital image processing technique is presented to incorporate the effect of features at higher lengthscales on the damage evolution and local fracture processes occurring at lower lengthscales. The method is called M-SLIP: Microstructural Scale Linking by Image Processing. The technique also enables incorporation of the real microstructure at different lengthscales in the finite element (FE)-based simulations. The practical application of the method is demonstrated via FE analysis on the microstructure of an aluminum cast alloy (A356), where the lengthscales of micropores and silicon particles differ by two orders of magnitude. The simulation captures the effect of nonuniformly distributed micropores at lengthscales of 200 to 500 {micro}m on the local stresses and strains around silicon particles that are at the lengthscales of 3 to 5 {micro}m. The procedure does not involve any simplifying assumptions regarding the microstructural geometry, and therefore, it is useful to model the mechanical response of the real multi-lengthscale microstructures of metals and alloys.

We have studied the void growth problem by employing the Taylor-based strain gradient plasticity theories, from which we have chosen the following three, namely, the mechanism-based strain gradient (MSG) plasticity (Gao et al 1999 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 47 1239, Huang et al 2000 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 48 99-128), the Taylor-based nonlocal theory (TNT; 2001 Gao and Huang 2001 Int. J. Solids Struct. 38 2615) and the conventional theory of MSG (CMSG; Huang et al 2004 Int. J. Plast. 20 753). We have addressed the following three issues which occur when plastic deformation at the void surface is unconstrained. (1) Effects of elastic deformation. Elasticity is essential for cavitation instability. It is therefore important to guarantee that the gradient term entering the Taylor model is the effective plastic strain gradient instead of the total strain gradient. We propose a simple elastic-plastic decomposition method. When the void size approaches the minimum allowable initial void size related to the maximum allowable geometrically necessary dislocation density, overestimation of the flow stress due to the negligence of the elastic strain gradient is on the order of lεY/R0 near the void surface, where l, εY and R0 are, respectively, the intrinsic material lengthscale, the yield strain and the initial void radius. (2) MSG intrinsic inconsistency, which was initially mentioned in Gao et al (1999 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 47 1239) but has not been the topic of follow-up studies. We realize that MSG higher-order stress arises due to the linear-strain-field approximation within the mesoscale cell with a nonzero size, lε. Simple analysis shows that within an MSG mesoscale cell near the void surface, the difference between microscale and mesoscale strains is on the order of (lε/R0)2, indicating that when lε/R0 ∼ 1.0, the higher-order stress effect can make the MSG result considerably different from the TNT or CMSG results. (3) Critical condition for cavitation instability

Various morphological measures demonstrate convergent evolution in ruminants with their natural diet, in particular with respect to the browser/grazer dichotomy. Here, we report quantitative macroanatomical measures of the tongue (length and width of specific parts) of 65 ruminant species and relate them to either body mass (BM) or total tongue length, and to the percentage of grass in the natural diet (%grass). Models without and with accounting for the phylogenetic structures of the dataset were used, and models were ranked using Akaike's Information Criterion. Scaling relationships followed geometric principles, that is, length measures scaled with BM to the power of 0.33. Models that used tongue length rather than BM as a body size proxy were consistently ranked better, indicating that using size proxies that are less susceptible to a wider variety of factors (such as BM that fluctuates with body condition) should be attempted whenever possible. The proportion of the freely mobile tongue tip of the total tongue (and hence also the corpus length) was negatively correlated to %grass, in accordance with concepts that the feeding mechanism of browsers requires more mobile tongues. It should be noted that some nonbrowsers, such as cattle, use a peculiar mechanism for grazing that also requires long, mobile tongues, but they appear to be exceptions. A larger corpus width with increasing %grass corresponds to differences in snout shape with broader snouts in grazers. The Torus linguae is longer with increasing %grass, a finding that still warrants functional interpretation. This study shows that tongue measures covary with diet in ruminants. In contrast, the shape of the tongue (straight or "hourglass-shaped" as measured by the ratio of the widest and smallest corpus width) is unrelated to diet and is influenced strongly by phylogeny.

Fracture systems have strong influence on the overall mechanical behavior of fractured rock masses due to their relatively lower stiffness and shear strength than those of the rock matrix. Understanding the effects of fracture geometrical distribution, such as length, spacing, persistence and orientation, is important for quantifying the mechanical behavior of fractured rock masses. The relation between fracture geometry and the mechanical characteristics of the fractured rock mass is complicated due to the fact that the fracture geometry and mechanical behaviors of fractured rock mass are strongly dependent on the lengthscale. In this paper, a comprehensive study was conducted to determine the effects of fracture distribution on the equivalent continuum elastic compliance of fractured rock masses over a wide range of fracture lengths. To account for the stochastic nature of fracture distributions, three different simulation techniques involving Oda’s elastic compliance tensor, Monte Carlo simulation (MCS), and suitable probability density functions (PDFs) were employed to represent the elastic compliance of fractured rock masses. To yield geologically realistic results, parameters for defining fracture distribu-tions were obtained from different geological fields. The influence of the key fracture parameters and their relations to the overall elastic behavior of the fractured rock mass were studied and discussed. A detailed study was also carried out to investigate the validity of the use of a representative element volume (REV) in the equivalent continuum representation of fractured rock masses. A criterion was also proposed to determine the appropriate REV given the fracture distribution of the rock mass.

Full Text Available Fracture systems have strong influence on the overall mechanical behavior of fractured rock masses due to their relatively lower stiffness and shear strength than those of the rock matrix. Understanding the effects of fracture geometrical distribution, such as length, spacing, persistence and orientation, is important for quantifying the mechanical behavior of fractured rock masses. The relation between fracture geometry and the mechanical characteristics of the fractured rock mass is complicated due to the fact that the fracture geometry and mechanical behaviors of fractured rock mass are strongly dependent on the lengthscale. In this paper, a comprehensive study was conducted to determine the effects of fracture distribution on the equivalent continuum elastic compliance of fractured rock masses over a wide range of fracture lengths. To account for the stochastic nature of fracture distributions, three different simulation techniques involving Oda's elastic compliance tensor, Monte Carlo simulation (MCS, and suitable probability density functions (PDFs were employed to represent the elastic compliance of fractured rock masses. To yield geologically realistic results, parameters for defining fracture distributions were obtained from different geological fields. The influence of the key fracture parameters and their relations to the overall elastic behavior of the fractured rock mass were studied and discussed. A detailed study was also carried out to investigate the validity of the use of a representative element volume (REV in the equivalent continuum representation of fractured rock masses. A criterion was also proposed to determine the appropriate REV given the fracture distribution of the rock mass.

The first experiments at the National Ignition Facility to probe laser-plasma interactions and the hot electron production at scalelengths relevant to direct-drive ignition are reported. The irradiation on one side of planar CH foils generated a plasma at the quarter-critical surface with predicted densityscalelengths of Ln 600 μm, measured electron temperatures of Te 3.5 to 4.0 keV, and overlapped laser intensities of I 6 to 15 ×1014W/cm2. Optical emission from stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and at ω/2 are correlated with the time-dependent hard x-ray signal. The fraction of laser energy converted to hot electrons increased from 0.5 % to 2.3 % as the laser intensity increased from 6 to 15 ×1014W/cm2, while the hot electron temperature was nearly constant around 40 to 50 keV. Only a sharp red-shifted feature is observed around ω/2, and both refracted and sidescattered SRS are detected, suggesting that multibeam SRS contributes to, and may even dominate, hot-electron production. These results imply a diminished presence of two-plasmon decay relative to SRS at these conditions, which has implications for hot-electron preheat mitigation strategies for direct-drive ignition. This work is supported by the DOE NNSA under Award Number DE-NA0001944.

The field of micro-/nano-mechanics of materials has been driven, on the one hand by the development of ever smaller structures in devices, and, on the other, by the need to map property variations in large systems that are microstructurally graded. Observations of `smaller is stronger' have also brought in questions of accompanying fracture property changes in the materials. In the wake of scattered articles on micro-scale fracture testing of various material classes, this review attempts to provide a holistic picture of the current state of the art. In the process, various reliable micro-scale geometries are shown, challenges with respect to instrumentation to probe ever smaller lengthscales are discussed and examples from recent literature are put together to exhibit the expanse of unusual fracture response of materials, from ductility in Si to brittleness in Pt. Outstanding issues related to fracture mechanics of small structures are critically examined for plausible solutions.

This report summarizes the lower-length-scale effort during FY 2016 in developing mesoscale capabilities for microstructure evolution, plasticity and fracture in reactor pressure vessel steels. During operation, reactor pressure vessels are subject to hardening and embrittlement caused by irradiation induced defect accumulation and irradiation enhanced solute precipitation. Both defect production and solute precipitation start from the atomic scale, and manifest their eventual effects as degradation in engineering scale properties. To predict the property degradation, multiscale modeling and simulation are needed to deal with the microstructure evolution, and to link the microstructure feature to material properties. In this report, the development of mesoscale capabilities for defect accumulation and solute precipitation are summarized. A crystal plasticity model to capture defect-dislocation interaction and a damage model for cleavage micro-crack propagation is also provided.

Shibata & Yokoyama (1999, 2002) proposed a method of estimating the coronal magnetic field strengths ($B$) and magnetic loop lengths ($L$) of solar and stellar flares, on the basis of magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the magnetic reconnection model. Using the scaling law provided by Shibata & Yokoyama (1999, 2002), $B$ and $L$ are obtained as functions of the emission measure ($EM=n^2L^3$) and temperature ($T$) at the flare peak. Here, $n$ is the coronal electron density of the flares. This scaling law enables the estimation of $B$ and $L$ for unresolved stellar flares from the observable physical quantities $EM$ and $T$, which is helpful for studying stellar surface activities. To apply this scaling law to stellar flares, we discuss its validity for spatially resolved solar flares. $EM$ and $T$ were calculated from GOES soft X-ray flux data, and $B$ and $L$ are theoretically estimated using the scaling law. For the same flare events, $B$ and $L$ were also observationally estimated with images taken...

We develop an effective field theory of density fluctuations for a Newtonian self-gravitating N-body system in quasi-equilibrium and apply it to a homogeneous uni-verse with small density fluctuations. Keeping the density fluctuations up to second or-der, we obtain the nonlinear field equation of 2-pt correlation ξ(r), which contains 3-pt correlation and formal ultra-violet divergences. By the Groth-Peebles hierarchical ansatz and mass renormalization, the equation becomes closed with two new terms beyond the Gaussian approximation, and their coefficients are taken as parameters. The analytic solu-tion is obtained in terms of the hypergeometric functions, which is checked numerically.With one single set of two fixed parameters, the correlation ξ(r) and the corresponding power spectrum P(k) simultaneously match the results from all the major surveys, such as APM, SDSS, 2dfGRS, and REFLEX. The model gives a unifying understanding of several seemingly unrelated features of large scale structure from a field-theoretical per-spective. The theory is worth extending to study the evolution effects in an expanding universe.

We ask and answer a basic question about the lengthscales involved in quantum decoherence: how far apart in space do two parts of a quantum system have to be, before a common quantum environment decoheres them as if they were entirely separate? We frame this question specifically in a cold atom context. How far apart do two populations of bosons have to be, before an environment of thermal atoms of a different species (`buffer gas') responds to their two particle numbers separately? An initial guess for this lengthscale is the thermal coherence length of the buffer gas; we show that a standard Born-Markov treatment partially supports this guess, but predicts only inverse-square saturation of decoherence rates with distance, and not the much more abrupt Gaussian behavior of the buffer gas's first-order coherence. We confirm this Born-Markov result with a more rigorous theory, based on an exact solution of a two-scatterer scattering problem, which also extends the result beyond weak scattering. Finally, howev...

The length-weight relationship and condition factor have been broadly investigated in snails to obtain the index of physical condition of populations and evaluate habitat quality. Herein, our goal was to describe the best predictors that explain Achatina fulica biometrical parameters and well being in a recently introduced population. From November 2001 to November 2002, monthly snail samples were collected in Lauro de Freitas City, Bahia, Brazil. Shell length and total weight were measured in the laboratory and the potential curve and condition factor were calculated. Five environmental variables were considered: temperature range, mean temperature, humidity, precipitation and human density. Multiple regressions were used to generate models including multiple predictors, via model selection approach, and then ranked with AIC criteria. Partial regressions were used to obtain the separated coefficients of determination of climate and human density models. A total of 1.460 individuals were collected, presenting a shell length range between 4.8 to 102.5 mm (mean: 42.18 mm). The relationship between total length and total weight revealed that Achatina fulica presented a negative allometric growth. Simple regression indicated that humidity has a significant influence on A. fulica total length and weight. Temperature range was the main variable that influenced the condition factor. Multiple regressions showed that climatic and human variables explain a small proportion of the variance in shell length and total weight, but may explain up to 55.7% of the condition factor variance. Consequently, we believe that the well being and biometric parameters of A. fulica can be influenced by climatic and human density factors.

Self-consistent field theory (SCFT) is used to study the mean potential near a charged plate inside a m :-n electrolyte. A perturbation series is developed in terms of g =4 π κ b , where b a n d 1 /κ are Bjerrum length and bare Debye length, respectively. To the zeroth order, we obtain the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann theory. For asymmetric electrolytes (m ≠n ), the first order (one-loop) correction to mean potential contains a secular term, which indicates the breakdown of the regular perturbation method. Using a renormalizaton group transformation, we remove the secular term and obtain a globally well-behaved one-loop approximation with a renormalized Debye length and a renormalized surface charge density. Furthermore, we find that if the counterions are multivalent, the surface charge density is renormalized substantially downwards and may undergo a change of sign, if the bare surface charge density is sufficiently large. Our results agrees with large MC simulation even when the density of electrolytes is relatively high.

A universal estimation formula for the average path length of scale free networks is given in this paper. Different from other estimation formulas, most of which use the size of network, N, as the only parameter, two parameters including N and a second parameter α are included in our formula. The parameter α is the power-law exponent, which represents the local connectivity property of a network. Because of this, the formula captures an important property that the local connectivity property at a microscopic level can determine the global connectivity of the whole network. The use of this new parameter distinguishes this approach from the other estimation formulas, and makes it a universal estimation formula, which can be applied to all types of scale-free networks. The conclusion is made that the small world feature is a derivative feature of a scale free network. If a network follows the power-law degree distribution, it must be a small world network. The power-law degree distribution property, while making the network economical, preserves the efficiency through this small world property when the network is scaled up. In other words, a real scale-free network is scaled at a relatively small cost and a relatively high efficiency, and that is the desirable result of self-organization optimization.

The correlation functions related to topological phase transitions in inversion-symmetric lattice models described by 2 ×2 Dirac Hamiltonians are discussed. In one dimension, the correlation function measures the charge-polarization correlation between Wannier states at different positions, while in two dimensions it measures the itinerant-circulation correlation between Wannier states. The correlation function is nonzero in both the topologically trivial and nontrivial states, and allows us to extract a correlation length that diverges at topological phase transitions. The correlation length and the curvature function that defines the topological invariants are shown to have universal critical exponents, allowing the notion of universality classes to be introduced. Particularly in two dimensions, the universality class is determined by the orbital symmetry of the Dirac model. The scaling laws that constrain the critical exponents are revealed, and are predicted to be satisfied even in interacting systems, as demonstrated in an interacting topological Kondo insulator.

Full Text Available Hybrid inflation models are especially interesting as they lead to a spike in the density power spectrum on small scales, compared to the CMB, while also satisfying current bounds on tensor modes. Here we study hybrid inflation with N waterfall fields sharing a global SO(N symmetry. The inclusion of many waterfall fields has the obvious advantage of avoiding topologically stable defects for N>3. We find that it also has another advantage: it is easier to engineer models that can simultaneously (i be compatible with constraints on the primordial spectral index, which tends to otherwise disfavor hybrid models, and (ii produce a spike on astrophysically large lengthscales. The latter may have significant consequences, possibly seeding the formation of astrophysically large black holes. We calculate correlation functions of the time-delay, a measure of density perturbations, produced by the waterfall fields, as a convergent power series in both 1/N and the field's correlation function Δ(x. We show that for large N, the two-point function is 〈δt(xδt(0〉∝Δ2(|x|/N and the three-point function is 〈δt(xδt(yδt(0〉∝Δ(|x−y|Δ(|x|Δ(|y|/N2. In accordance with the central limit theorem, the density perturbations on the scale of the spike are Gaussian for large N and non-Gaussian for small N.

Full Text Available Computing the average shortest-path length of a large scale-free network needs much memory space and computation time. Hence, parallel computing must be applied. In order to solve the load-balancing problem for coarse-grained parallelization, the relationship between the computing time of a single-source shortest-path length of node and the features of node is studied. We present a dynamic programming model using the average outdegree of neighboring nodes of different levels as the variable and the minimum time difference as the target. The coefficients are determined on time measurable networks. A native array and multimap representation of network are presented to reduce the memory consumption of the network such that large networks can still be loaded into the memory of each computing core. The simplified load-balancing model is applied on a network of tens of millions of nodes. Our experiment shows that this model can solve the load-imbalance problem of large scale-free network very well. Also, the characteristic of this model can meet the requirements of networks with ever-increasing complexity and scale.

A measurement campaign on the free-stream turbulence (FST) induced boundary layer transition has been carried out in the Minimum-Turbulence-Level wind tunnel at KTH. Previous numerical investigations where the turbulence intensity (Tu) has been kept constant, while the integral lengthscale (Λx) has been varied, have shown that the transition location is advanced for increasing Λx. The present measurement campaign has been carried out using hot-wire anemometry and consists of 42 unique FST conditions with thorough measurements throughout the transitional region. Unlike other extensive FST induced transition measurements the free-stream velocity was here kept constant for all cases, implying that the boundary layer scale is locked up to transition onset. Our measurements confirm previous results on the advancement of the transition location with increasing Λx for low to moderate Tu levels, but show the opposite effect for higher levels, i.e. a delay in the transition location for larger Λx, which to the knowledge of the present authors so far is unreported. In addition, the common belief that the FST lengthscales have a negligible effect on the transition location with regards to the Tu level does not seem to be fully true.

A method for predicting the shear strength of materials over multiple lengthscales is developed and tested. The method is based on renormalizing the energies and shear displacements obtained through electronic structure calculations of nanoscale models of the material of interest. All material- and size-dependent quantities are incorporated into the renormalization factors, yielding a universal model that can be applied to many materials and lengthscales. The model is used to predict the shear strength of Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} along three relevant slip planes and slip directions. The results demonstrate that the shear strengths of the nanoscale systems used in the calculations range from 19.4 to 29.4 GPa. These data are then renormalized to predict the shear strength of a grain that is 10 {mu}m thick, yielding shear strengths ranging from 189 to 342 MPa. The large decrease in the shear strength with increasing grain size is consistent with the behavior of many materials. The ability to capture this change using electronic structure calculations that do not require experimental input may be useful in developing cohesive laws of novel materials for use in large-scale mechanical engineering simulations of materials failure.

A key factor in our ability to produce and predict the stability of metal-based macro- to nano-scale structures and devices is a fundamental understanding of the localized nature of corrosion. Corrosion processes where physical dimensions become critical in the degradation process include localized corrosion initiation in passivated metals, microgalvanic interactions in metal alloys, and localized corrosion in structurally complex materials like nanocrystalline metal films under atmospheric and inundated conditions. This project focuses on two areas of corrosion science where a fundamental understanding of processes occurring at critical dimensions is not currently available. Sandia will study the critical lengthscales necessary for passive film breakdown in the inundated aluminum (Al) system and the chemical processes and transport in ultra-thin water films relevant to the atmospheric corrosion of nanocrystalline tungsten (W) films. Techniques are required that provide spatial information without significantly perturbing or masking the underlying relationships. Al passive film breakdown is governed by the relationship between area of the film sampled and its defect structure. We will combine low current measurements with microelectrodes to study the size scale required to observe a single initiation event and record electrochemical breakdown events. The resulting quantitative measure of stability will be correlated with metal grain size, secondary phase size and distribution to understand which metal properties control stability at the macro- and nano-scale. Mechanisms of atmospheric corrosion on W are dependent on the physical dimensions and continuity of adsorbed water layers as well as the chemical reactions that take place in this layer. We will combine electrochemical and scanning probe microscopic techniques to monitor the chemistry and resulting material transport in these thin surface layers. A description of the lengthscales responsible for driving the

A generic transport equation for a generalized length-scale in second-order turbulence closure models for geophysical boundary layers is suggested. This variable consists of the products of powers of the turbulent kinetic energy, k, and the integral length-scale, l. The new approach generalizes traditional second-order models used in geophysical boundary layer modelling, e.g. the Mellor-Yamada model and the k- model, which, however, can be recovered as special cases. It is demonstrated how this new model can be calibrated with measurements in some typical geophysical boundary layer flows. As an example, the generic model is applied to the uppermost oceanic boundary layer directly influenced by the effects of breaking surface waves. Recent measurements show that in this layer the classical law of the wall is invalid, since there turbulence is dominated by turbulent transport of TKE from above, and not by shear-production. A widely accepted approach to describe the wave-affected layer with a one-equation turbulence model was suggested by Craig and Banner (1994). Here, some deficien- cies of their solutions are pointed out and a generalization of their ideas for the case of two-equation models is suggested. Direct comparison with very recently obtained measurements of the dissipation rate, , in the wave-affected boundary layer with com- puted results clearly demonstrate that only the generic two-equation model yields cor- rect predictions for the profiles of and the turbulent lengthscale, l. Also, the pre- dicted velocity profiles in the wave-affected layer, important e.g. for the interpretation of surface drifter experiments, are reproduced correctly only by the generic model. Implementation and computational costs of the generic model are comparable with traditonal two-equation models.

Structural materials display a strong size-dependence when deformed non-uniformly into the inelastic range: smaller is stronger. This effect has important implications for an increasing number of applications in structural failure, electronics, functional coatings, composites, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), nanostructured materials, micro/nanometer fabrication technologies, etc. The mechanical behavior of these applications cannot be characterized by classical (local) continuum theories because they incorporate no, 'material lengthscales' and consequently predict no size effects. On the other hand, it is still not possible to perform quantum and atomistic simulations on realistic time and structures. It is therefore necessary to develop a scale-dependent continuum theory bridging the gap between the classical continuum theories and the atomistic simulations in order to be able to design the size-dependent structures of modern technology. Nonlocal rate-dependent and gradient-dependent theories of plasticity and damage are developed in this work for this purpose. We adopt a multi-scale, hierarchical thermodynamic consistent framework to construct the material constitutive relations for the scale-dependent plasticity/damage behavior. Material lengthscales are implicitly and explicitly introduced into the governing equations through material rate-dependency (viscosity) and coefficients of spatial higher-order gradients of one or more material state variables, respectively. The proposed framework is implemented into the commercially well-known finite element software ABAQUS. The finite element simulations of material instability problems converge to meaningful results upon further refinement of the finite element mesh, since the width of the fracture process zone (shear band) is determined by the intrinsic material lengthscale; while the classical continuum theories fail to address this problem. It is also shown that the proposed theory is successful for

In solutions of the charged semirigid biopolymer hyaluronic acid in salt-free conditions, the diffusion coefficient D{sub NSE} measured at high transfer momentum q by neutron spin echo is more than an order of magnitude smaller than that determined by dynamic light scattering, D{sub DLS}. This behavior contrasts with neutral polymer solutions. With increasing salt content, D{sub DLS} approaches D{sub NSE}, which is independent of ionic strength. Contrary to theoretical expectation, the ion-polymer coupling, which dominates the low q dynamics of polyelectrolyte solutions, already breaks down at distance scales greater than the Debye-Hueckel length.

The roots of lab on a chip in Canada are deep, comprising of some of the earliest contributions and first demonstrations of the potential of microfluidic chips. In an editorial leading off this special issue, Jed Harrison of University of Alberta reflects on these early days and Canada's role in the field's development (DOI: 10.1039/c3lc50522g). Over the last decade, microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip research efforts grew exponentially - rapidly diffusing across the vast Canadian lengthscales.

We consider an input queued switch operating under the MaxWeight scheduling algorithm. This system is interesting to study because it is a model for Internet routers and data center networks. Recently, it was shown that the MaxWeight algorithm has optimal heavy-traffic queue lengthscaling when all ports are uniformly saturated. Here we consider the case when an arbitrary number of ports are saturated (which we call the incompletely saturated case), and each port is allowed to saturate at a d...

Conventionally, the stretching of rubber is modeled exclusively by rotations of segments of the embedded polymer chains; i.e. changes in entropy. However models have not been tested on all relevant lengthscales due to a lack of appropriate probes. Here we present a universal X-ray based method...... within the individual monomers, but among the contributions is also an elastic strain, acting between chains, which is 3-4 orders of magnitude smaller than the macroscopic strain, and of the opposite sign, i.e. extension of polymer chains in the direction perpendicular to the stretch. This may be due...

Percolation theory can be used to find water flow paths of least resistance. The application of percolation theory to drainage networks allows identification of the range of exponent values that describe the tortuosity of rivers in real river networks, which is then used to generate the observed scaling between drainage basin area and channel length, a relationship known as Hack's law. Such a theoretical basis for Hack's law allows interpretation of the range of exponent values based on an assessment of the heterogeneity of the substrate.

Percolation theory can be used to find water flow paths of least resistance. Application of percolation theory to drainage networks allows identification of the range of exponent values that describe the tortuosity of rivers in real river networks, which is then used to generate the observed scaling between drainage basin area and channel length, a relationship known as Hack's law. Such a theoretical basis for Hack's law may allow interpretation of the range of exponent values based on an assessment of the heterogeneity of the substrate.

The structure of human cortical bone evolves over multiple length-scales from its basic constituents of collagen and hydroxyapatite at the nanoscale to osteonal structures at nearmillimeter dimensions, which all provide the basis for its mechanical properties. To resist fracture, bone’s toughness is derived intrinsically through plasticity (e.g., fibrillar sliding) at structural-scales typically below a micron and extrinsically (i.e., during crack growth) through mechanisms (e.g., crack deflection/bridging) generated at larger structural-scales. Biological factors such as aging lead to a markedly increased fracture risk, which is often associated with an age-related loss in bone mass (bone quantity). However, we find that age-related structural changes can significantly degrade the fracture resistance (bone quality) over multiple lengthscales. Using in situ small-/wide-angle x-ray scattering/diffraction to characterize sub-micron structural changes and synchrotron x-ray computed tomography and in situ fracture-toughness measurements in the scanning electron microscope to characterize effects at micron-scales, we show how these age-related structural changes at differing size-scales degrade both the intrinsic and extrinsic toughness of bone. Specifically, we attribute the loss in toughness to increased non-enzymatic collagen cross-linking which suppresses plasticity at nanoscale dimensions and to an increased osteonal density which limits the potency of crack-bridging mechanisms at micron-scales. The link between these processes is that the increased stiffness of the cross-linked collagen requires energy to be absorbed by “plastic” deformation at higher structural levels, which occurs by the process of microcracking.

Solid silicon microneedle arrays with different needle lengths (ranging from 100 to 1100 microm) and needle densities (ranging from 400 to 11,900 needles/cm(2)) were used to penetrate epidermal membrane of human cadaver skin. After this pretreatment, the electrical resistance of the skin and the flux of acyclovir across the skin were monitored. A linear correlation between the acyclovir flux and the inverse of the skin electric resistance was observed. Microneedle arrays with longer needles (>600 microm) were more effective in creating pathways across skin and enhancing drug flux, and microneedle arrays with lower needle densities (microneedles with long enough needle length (>600 microm). In addition, the microneedle arrays were used to penetrate hairless rat skin in vivo, and the trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) of the rat skin was measured before and after the pretreatment. Treating rat skin with microneedle arrays of lower needle density and longer needle length was more effective in increasing TEWL. Integrity of the stratum corneum barrier of the penetrated rat skin as measured by TEWL recovered back to its base line level within 24h after the microneedle pretreatment.

Full Text Available A self-assembly approach to lead selenide (PbSe structures that have organized across multiple lengthscales and multiple dimensions has been achieved. These structures consist of angstrom-scale 0D PbSe crystals, synthesized via a hot solution process, which have stacked into 1D nanorods via aligned dipoles. These 1D nanorods have arranged into nanoscale 2D sheets via directional short-ranged attraction. The nanoscale 2D sheets then further aligned into larger 2D microscale planes. In this study, the authors have characterized the PbSe structures via normal and cryo-TEM and EDX showing that this multiscale multidimensional self-assembled alignment is not due to drying effects. These PbSe structures hold promise for applications in advanced materials—particularly electronic technologies, where alignment can aid in device performance.

Lie-type deformations provide a systematic way of generalising the symmetries of modern physics. Deforming the isometry group of Minkowski spacetime through the introduction of a minimal lengthscale $\\ell$ leads to anti de Sitter spacetime with isometry group $SO(2,3)$. Quantum spacetime on scales of the order $\\ell$ therefore carries negative curvature. Considering extended particles of characteristic size $\\ell$ carrying topological information and requiring that their topological properties be compatible with those of the underlying spacetime, we show that electroweak symmetries emerge from the maximal compact subgroup of the anti de Sitter isometry group in a way that is consistent with no-go theorems. It is speculated that additional deformation outside the Lie-algebraic framework, such as $q$-deformations, could likewise provide an explanation of the origin of the strong force.

Applicability of nonlocal models to nano-beams is discussed in terms of physical implications via the similarity between a nonlocal Euler-Bernoulli (EB) beam theory and a classical Rankine-Timoshenko (RT) beam theory. The nonlocal EB beam model, Eringen's model, is briefly reviewed and the classical RT beam theory is recast by the primary variables of the EB model. A careful comparison of these two models reveals that the scale parameter used to the Eringen's model has a strike resemblance to the shear flexibility in the RT model. This implies that the nonlocal model employed in literature consider the axial lengthscale effect only. In addition, the paradox for a cantilevered nano-beam subjected to tip shear force is clearly explained by finding appropriate displacement prescribed boundary conditions.

We have investigated magnetic correlations in various CMR manganites on macroscopic, mesoscopic and microscopic lengthscales by carrying out DC magnetization, neutron depolarization, and neutron diffraction measurements. We present here the effect of substituting Mn with Fe and La with Dy in the ferromagnetic La0.7- CaMnO3 ( ∼ 0.3 - 0.33) compounds. Neutron diffraction has been used in order to characterize the long-range magnetic order and its gradual suppression by the substitution. Neutron depolarization study has been carried out in order to bridge the gap in our understanding regarding the nature of magnetic correlation obtained from the macroscopic and microscopic measurements. In particular, our study on La0.67Ca0.33Mn0.9Fe0.1O3 has established the fact that a true double exchange mediated spin-glass is insulating. In another study of La-site ionic size effect and its disorder in (La1-Dy)0.7Ca0.3MnO3, we have investigated the evolution of the lengthscale of magnetic ordering with a possible microscopic explanation and the results have been compared with that for the light rare earth substituted compounds.

We report on the length measuring instrument with the absolute scale that was based on the combination of an optical frequency comb and a passive optical cavity. The time spacing of short femtosecond pulses, generated by the optical frequency comb, is optically phase locked onto the cavity free spectral range with a derivative spectroscopy technique so that the value of the repetition frequency of the femtosecond laser is tied to and determines the measured displacement. The instantaneous value of the femtosecond pulse train frequency is counted by a frequency counter. This counted value corresponds to the length given by the spacing between the two mirrors of the passive cavity. The phase lock between the femtosecond pulsed beam and the passive cavity is possible due to the low-dispersion of the cavity mirrors, where the silver coating on the mirrors was used to provide the low dispersion for the broadband radiation of the comb. Every reflection on the output mirror feeds a portion of the beam back to the cavity so that the output beam is a result of multiple interfering components. The parameters of the output beam are given not only by the parameters of the mirrors but mainly by the absolute distance between the mirror surfaces. Thus, one cavity mirror can be considered as the reference starting point of the distance to be measured and the other mirror is the measuring probe surveying the unknown distance. The measuring mirror of the experimental setup of the low-dispersion cavity is mounted on a piezoelectric actuator which provides small changes in the cavity length we used to test the length measurement method. For the verification of the measurement accuracy a reference incremental interferometer was integrated into our system so that the displacement of the piezoelectric actuator could be obtained with both measuring methods simultaneously.

Shibata and Yokoyama (1999, ApJ, 526, L49; 2002, ApJ, 577, 422) proposed a method of estimating the coronal magnetic field strength (B) and magnetic loop length (L) of solar and stellar flares, on the basis of magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the magnetic reconnection model. Using the scaling law provided by Shibata and Yokoyama (1999, ApJ, 526, L49; 2002, ApJ, 577, 422), we obtain B and L as functions of the emission measure (EM = n2L3) and temperature (T) at the flare peak. Here, n is the coronal electron density of the flares. This scaling law enables the estimation of B and L for unresolved stellar flares from the observable physical quantities EM and T, which is helpful for studying stellar surface activities. To apply this scaling law to stellar flares, we discuss its validity for spatially resolved solar flares. Quantities EM and T are calculated from GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) soft X-ray flux data, and B and L are theoretically estimated using the scaling law. For the same flare events, B and L were also observationally estimated with images taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) Magnetogram and Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 94 Å pass band. As expected, a positive correlation was found between the theoretically and observationally estimated values. We interpret this result as indirect evidence that flares are caused by magnetic reconnection. Moreover, this analysis makes us confident about the validity of applying this scaling law to stellar flares as well as solar flares.

The development of photonic devices with tailor-made optical properties requires the control and the manipulation of light propagation within structures of different lengthscales, ranging from sub-wavelength to macroscopic dimensions. However, optical simulation at different lengthscales necessitates the combination of different simulation methods, which have to account properly for various effects such as polarization, interference, or diffraction: At dimensions much larger than the wavelength of light common ray-tracing (RT) techniques are conveniently employed, while in the subwavelength regime more sophisticated approaches, like the so-called finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique, are needed. Describing light propagation both in the sub-wavelength regime as well as at macroscopic lengthscales can only be achieved by bridging between these two approaches. In this contribution we present on the one hand a study aiming at the determination of the intermediate size range for which both simulation methods are applicable and on the other hand an approach for combining classical ray-tracing with FDTD simulation in order to handle optical elements of large sizes. Generally, the interface between RT and FDTD is restricted to very small sample areas. Nevertheless, many real world optical devices use e.g. diffractive optical elements (DOEs) having comparably large areas in the order of 1-2 mm² (or larger). Therefore, one has to develop strategies in order to handle the data transfer between FDTD and RT also for structures of such larger size scales. Our approach in this regard is based on the symmetries of the structures. In this way support programs like e.g. MATLAB can be used to replicate the near-field of a single structure and to merge it to the near-field of a larger area. Comparisons of RT and FDTD simulations in the far-field can be used to validate the physical correctness of this approach. With such procedure it is possible to optimize light

Bond critical point and local energy density properties together with net atomic charges were calculated for theoretical electron density distributions, F(r), generated for a variety of Fe and Cu metal-sulfide materials with high- and low-spin Fe atoms in octahedral coordination and high-spin Fe atoms in tetrahedral coordination. The electron density, F(rc), the Laplacian, 32F(rc), the local kinetic energy, G(rc), and the oxidation state of Fe increase as the local potential energy density, V(rc), the Fe-S bond lengths, and the coordination numbers of the Fe atoms decrease. The properties of the bonded interactions for the octahedrally coordinated low-spin Fe atoms for pyrite and marcasite are distinct from those for high-spin Fe atoms for troilite, smythite, and greigite. The Fe-S bond lengths are shorter and the values of F(rc) and 32F(rc) are larger for pyrite and marcasite, indicating that the accumulation and local concentration of F(r) in the internuclear region are greater than those involving the longer, high-spin Fe-S bonded interactions. The net atomic charges and the bonded radii calculated for the Fe and S atoms in pyrite and marcasite are also smaller than those for sulfides with high-spin octahedrally coordinated Fe atoms. Collectively, the Fe-S interactions are indicated to be intermediate in character with the low-spin Fe-S interactions having greater shared character than the highspin interactions. The bond lengths observed for chalcopyrite together with the calculated bond critical point properties are consistent with the formula Cu+Fe3+S2. The bond length is shorter and the F(rc) value is larger for the FeS4 tetrahedron displayed by metastable greigite than those displayed by chalcopyrite and cubanite, consistent with a proposal that the Fe atom in greigite is tetravalent. S-S bond paths exist between each of the surface S atoms of adjacent slabs of FeS6 octahedra comprising the layer sulfide smythite, suggesting that the neutral Fe3S4 slabs are

The variability in wind-generated electricity complicates the integration of this electricity into the electrical grid. This challenge steepens as the percentage of renewably-generated electricity on the grid grows, but variability can be reduced by exploiting geographic diversity: correlations between wind farms decrease as the separation between wind farms increases. But how far is far enough to reduce variability? Grid management requires balancing production on various timescales, and so consideration of correlations reflective of those timescales can guide the appropriate spatial scales of geographic diversity grid integration. To answer ‘how far is far enough,’ we investigate the universal behavior of geographic diversity by exploring wind-speed correlations using three extensive datasets spanning continents, durations and time resolution. First, one year of five-minute wind power generation data from 29 wind farms span 1270 km across Southeastern Australia (Australian Energy Market Operator). Second, 45 years of hourly 10 m wind-speeds from 117 stations span 5000 km across Canada (National Climate Data Archive of Environment Canada). Finally, four years of five-minute wind-speeds from 14 meteorological towers span 350 km of the Northwestern US (Bonneville Power Administration). After removing diurnal cycles and seasonal trends from all datasets, we investigate dependence of correlation length on time scale by digitally high-pass filtering the data on 0.25-2000 h timescales and calculating correlations between sites for each high-pass filter cut-off. Correlations fall to zero with increasing station separation distance, but the characteristic correlation length varies with the high-pass filter applied: the higher the cut-off frequency, the smaller the station separation required to achieve de-correlation. Remarkable similarities between these three datasets reveal behavior that, if universal, could be particularly useful for grid management. For high

The statistical theory of strong turbulence in inhomogeneous plasmas is developed for the cases where fluctuations with different scale-lengths coexist. Nonlinear interactions in the same kind of fluctuations as well as nonlinear interplay between different classes of fluctuations are kept in the analysis. Nonlinear interactions are modelled as turbulent drag, nonlinear noise and nonlinear drive, and a set of Langevin equations is formulated. With the help of an Ansatz of a large number of degrees of freedom with positive Lyapunov number, Langevin equations are solved and the fluctuation dissipation theorem in the presence of strong plasma turbulence has been derived. A case where two driving mechanisms (one for micro mode and the other for semi-micro mode) coexist is investigated. It is found that there are several states of fluctuations: in one state, the micro mode is excited and the semi-micro mode is quenched; in the other state, the semi-micro mode is excited, and the micro mode remains at finite but suppressed level. New type of turbulence transition is obtained, and a cusp type catastrophe is revealed. A phase diagram is drawn for turbulence which is composed of multiple classes of fluctuations. Influence of the inhomogeneous global radial electric field is discussed. A new insight is given for the physics of internal transport barrier. Finally, the nonlocal heat transport due to the long-wave-length fluctuations, which are noise-pumped by shorter-wave-length ones, is analyzed and the impact on transient transport problems is discussed. (author)

We demonstrate that Daubechies wavelets can be used to construct a minimal set of optimized localized adaptively contracted basis functions in which the Kohn-Sham orbitals can be represented with an arbitrarily high, controllable precision. Ground state energies and the forces acting on the ions can be calculated in this basis with the same accuracy as if they were calculated directly in a Daubechies wavelets basis, provided that the amplitude of these adaptively contracted basis functions is sufficiently small on the surface of the localization region, which is guaranteed by the optimization procedure described in this work. This approach reduces the computational costs of density functional theory calculations, and can be combined with sparse matrix algebra to obtain linear scaling with respect to the number of electrons in the system. Calculations on systems of 10 000 atoms or more thus become feasible in a systematic basis set with moderate computational resources. Further computational savings can be achieved by exploiting the similarity of the adaptively contracted basis functions for closely related environments, e.g., in geometry optimizations or combined calculations of neutral and charged systems.

Under mesoscopic conditions, the transport potential on a thin film carrying a current is theoretically expected to bear spatial variation due to quantum interference. Scanning tunneling potentiometry is the ideal tool to investigate such variation, by virtue of its high spatial resolution. We report in this Letter the first detailed measurement of transport potential under mesoscopic conditions. Epitaxial graphene at a temperature of 17 K was chosen as the initial system for study because the characteristic transport lengthscales in this material are relatively large. Tip jumping artifacts are a major possible contribution to systematic errors; and we mitigate such problems by using custom-made slender and sharp tips manufactured by focused ion beam. In our data, we observe residual resistivity dipoles associated with topographical defects, and local peaks and dips in the potential that are not associated with topographical defects.

Rapid progress in identifying disease biomarkers has increased the importance of creating high-performance detection technologies. Over the last decade, the design of many detection platforms has focused on either the nano or micro lengthscale. Here, we review recent strategies that combine nano- and microscale materials and devices to produce large improvements in detection sensitivity, speed and accuracy, allowing previously undetectable biomarkers to be identified in clinical samples. Microsensors that incorporate nanoscale features can now rapidly detect disease-related nucleic acids expressed in patient samples. New microdevices that separate large clinical samples into nanocompartments allow precise quantitation of analytes, and microfluidic systems that utilize nanoscale binding events can detect rare cancer cells in the bloodstream more accurately than before. These advances will lead to faster and more reliable clinical diagnostic devices.

The exponential scalelength ($L_d$) of the Milky Way's (MW's) disk is a critical parameter for describing the global physical size of our Galaxy, important both for interpreting other Galactic measurements and helping us to understand how our Galaxy fits into extragalactic contexts. Unfortunately, current estimates span a wide range of values and often are statistically incompatible with one another. Here, we aim to determine an improved, aggregate estimate for $L_d$ by utilizing a hierarchical Bayesian (HB) meta-analysis technique that accounts for the possibility that any one measurement has not properly accounted for all statistical or systematic errors. Within this machinery we explore a variety of ways of modeling the nature of problematic measurements, and then use a Bayesian model averaging technique to derive net posterior distributions that incorporate any model-selection uncertainty. Our meta-analysis combines 29 different (15 visible and 14 infrared) photometric measurements of $L_d$ available in ...

We have examined the dynamical behavior of the kink solutions of the one-dimensional sine-Gordon equation in the presence of a spatially periodic parametric perturbation. Our study clarifies and extends the currently available knowledge on this and related nonlinear problems in four directions. First, we present the results of a numerical simulation program which are not compatible with the existence of a radiative threshold, predicted by earlier calculations. Second, we carry out a perturbative calculation which helps interpret those previous predictions, enabling us to understand in depth our numerical results. Third, we apply the collective coordinate formalism to this system and demonstrate numerically that it accurately reproduces the observed kink dynamics. Fourth, we report on a novel occurrence of lengthscale competition in this system and show how it can be understood by means of linear stability analysis. Finally, we conclude by summarizing the general physical framework that arises from our study.

Human tissues are remarkably adaptable and robust, harboring the collective ability to detect and respond to external stresses while maintaining tissue integrity. Following injury, many tissues have the capacity to repair the damage - and restore form and function - by deploying cellular and molecular mechanisms reminiscent of developmental programs. Indeed, it is increasingly clear that cancer and chronic conditions that develop with age arise as a result of cells and tissues re-implementing and deregulating a selection of developmental programs. Therefore, understanding the fundamental molecular mechanisms that drive cell and tissue responses is a necessity when designing therapies to treat human conditions. Extracellular matrix stiffness synergizes with chemical cues to drive single cell and collective cell behavior in culture and acts to establish and maintain tissue homeostasis in the body. This review will highlight recent advances that elucidate the impact of matrix mechanics on cell behavior and fate across these lengthscales during times of homeostasis and in disease states.

The determination of mechanical properties in nanoscale geometries is becoming increasingly important as microsystem and integrated circuit technologies continue to mature. Many devices produced by these technologies are composed of materials with critical sample dimensions smaller than 100 nm. In microelectronics, this can be the thickness of a metallization or dielectric layer, while wear coatings on MEMS devices are frequently thinner than this lengthscale. Since structures of this type are susceptible to plasticity and fracture as a result of either contact or residual stresses, it is critical that the mechanical behavior of the individual components be well described. This thesis is directed at the development of methods for characterizing the mechanical properties in small volume systems. Using instrumented indentation techniques, typically called nanoindentation, a systematic study of the mechanical response of materials ranging from ductile metals to brittle ceramics was executed. More specifically, investigations into how single lengthscale approaches may be used to describe mechanical properties such as indentation hardening, ductile film delamination and strain energy release rates were performed. In addition, the acoustic energy released during the fracture of brittle ceramics was related to both stress intensity and a strain energy release rate. Finite element simulations of nanoindentation tests were performed using ABAQUS, a commercially available material modeling software program. These simulations were used to separate individual film and substrate responses from the experimentally observed film/substrate composite mechanical behavior. Finally, quasi-tribological experiments were performed to probe for transitions in friction or wear response as the local deformation varied from the nanoscale to the macroscale.

Compared to AlGaN/GaN HEMT with 0.15 μm T-gate length, the AlInN/AlN/GaN one exhibits much higher current density and transconductance of 1558 mA/mm at Vd = 2 V and 330 mS/mm, respectively. The high extrinsic ft and fmax of 82 GHz and 70 GHz are extracted from AlInN/AlN/GaN HEMT. Besides, we find that the transconductance roll-off is significant in AlGaN/GaN, but largely improved in AlInN/AlN/GaN HEMT, suggesting that the high carrier density and lattice-matched epitaxial heterostructure is important to reach both large RF output power and high operation frequency, especially for an aggressively gate lengthscaling.

Root lengthdensity (RLD) is a highly wanted parameter for use in crop growth modeling but difficult to measure under field conditions. Therefore, artificial neural networks (ANNs) were implemented to predict the RLD of field grown potatoes that were subject to three irrigation strategies and three......) of the eight input variables: soil layer intervals (D), percentages of sand (Sa), silt (Si), and clay (Cl), bulk density of soil layers (Bd), weighted soil moisture deficit during the irrigation strategies period (SMD), geometric mean particle size diameter (dg), and geometric standard deviation (σg...... under a range of soil physical conditions with a high degree of accuracy and may be used in crop growth modeling....

Mapping anatomical and functional parameters of the zebrafish brain is moving apace. Research communities undertaking such studies are becoming ever larger and more diverse. The unique features, tools, and technologies associated with zebrafish are propelling them as the 21st century model organism for brain mapping. Uniquely positioned as a vertebrate model system, the zebrafish enables imaging of anatomy and function at different lengthscales from intraneuronal compartments to sparsely distributed whole brain patterns. With a variety of diverse and established statistical modeling and analytic methods available from the wider brain mapping communities, the richness of zebrafish neuroimaging data is being realized. The statistical power of population observations (N) within and across many samples (n) projected onto a standardized space will provide vast databases for data-driven biological approaches. This article reviews key brain mapping initiatives at different levels of scale that highlight the potential of zebrafish brain mapping. By way of introduction to the next wave of brain mappers, an accessible introduction to the key concepts and caveats associated with neuroimaging are outlined and discussed.

A heuristic model for the plasma scrape-off width balances magnetic drifts against parallel loss at c{sub s} /2, resulting in a SOL width ~ {rho}{sub p}. T{sub sep} is calculated from Spitzer–Härm parallel thermal conduction. This results in a prediction for the power scrape-off width in quantitative agreement both in magnitude and scaling with recent experimental data. To achieve the ~ c{sub s} /2 flow assumed in this model and measured experimentally sets requirements on the ratio of upstream to total SOL particle sources, relative to the square-root of the ratio of target to upstream temperature. The Pfisch-Schlüter model for equilibrium flows has been modified to allow near-sonic flows, appropriate for gradient scalelengths of order {rho}{sub p}, resulting in a new quadrupole radial flow pattern. The strong parallel flows and plasma charging implied by this model suggest a mechanism for H-mode transition, consistent with many observations

A heuristic model for the plasma scrape-off width balances magnetic drifts against parallel loss at c{sub s}/2, resulting in a SOL width ∼ρ{sub p}. T{sub sep} is calculated from Spitzer–Härm parallel thermal conduction. This results in a prediction for the power scrape-off width in quantitative agreement both in magnitude and scaling with recent experimental data. To achieve the ∼c{sub s}/2 flow assumed in this model and measured experimentally sets requirements on the ratio of upstream to total SOL particle sources, relative to the square-root of the ratio of target to upstream temperature. The Pfisch–Schlüter model for equilibrium flows has been modified to allow near-sonic flows, appropriate for gradient scalelengths of order ρ{sub p}, resulting in a new quadrupole radial flow pattern. The strong parallel flows and plasma charging implied by this model suggest a mechanism for H-mode transition, consistent with many observations.

Both large-eddy simulations (LES) and water-tunnel experiments, using simultaneous stereoscopic PIV and LIF were done to investigate pollutant dispersion in a region where the surface changes from rural to urban roughness. This consists of rectangular obstacles where we vary the spanwise aspect ratio of the obstacles. A line source of passive tracer was placed upstream of the roughness transition. The objectives of the study are: (i) to determine the influence of the aspect ratio on the roughness-transition flow, and (ii) to determine the dominant mechanisms of pollutant removal from street canyons in the transition region. It is found that for a spanwise aspect ratio of 2 the drag induced by the roughness is largest of all considered cases, which is caused by a large-scale secondary flow. In the roughness transition the vertical advective pollutant flux is the main ventilation mechanism in the first three streets. Furthermore, by means of linear stochastic estimation the mean flow structure is identied that is responsible for exchange of the fluid between the roughness obstacles and the outer part of the boundary layer. Furthermore, it is found that the vertical lengthscale of this structure increases with increasing aspect ratio of the obstacles in the roughness region.

Intrinsically interfacially active proteins have garnered considerable interest recently owing to their potential use in a range of materials applications. Notably, the fungal hydrophobins are known to form robust and well-organized surface layers with high mechanical strength. Recently, it was shown that the bacterial biofilm protein BslA also forms highly elastic surface layers at interfaces. Here we describe several self-assembled structures formed by BslA, both at interfaces and in bulk solution, over a range of lengthscales spanning from nanometres to millimetres. First, we observe transiently stable and highly elongated air bubbles formed in agitated BslA samples. We study their behaviour in a range of solution conditions and hypothesize that their dissipation is a consequence of the slow adsorption kinetics of BslA to an air-water interface. Second, we describe elongated tubules formed by BslA interfacial films when shear stresses are applied in both a Langmuir trough and a rheometer. These structures bear a striking resemblance, although much larger in scale, to the elongated air bubbles formed during agitation. Taken together, this knowledge will better inform the conditions and applications of how BslA can be used in the stabilization of multi-phase materials.This article is part of the themed issue 'Soft interfacial materials: from fundamentals to formulation'.

Finite element models are used frequently in both engineering and scientific research. While they can provide useful information as to the performance of materials, as lengthscales are decreased more sophisticated model descriptions are required. It is also important to develop methods by which existing models may be verified against experimental findings. The present study evaluates the ability of various finite element models to predict materials behaviour at lengthscales ranging from several microns to tens of nanometers. Considering this motivation, this thesis is provided in manuscript form with the bulk of material coming from two case studies. Following an overview of relevant literature in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 considers the nucleation of delta-zirconium hydrides in a Zircaloy-2 matrix. Zirconium hydrides are an important topic in the nuclear industry as they form a brittle phase which leads to delayed hydride cracking during reactor start-up and shut-down. Several FE models are used to compare present results with literature findings and illustrate the weaknesses of standard FE approaches. It is shown that standard continuum techniques do not sufficiently capture the interfacial effects of an inclusion-matrix system. By using nano-scale material descriptions, nucleation lattice strains are obtained which are in good agreement with previous experimental studies. The motivation for Chapter 4 stems from a recognized need to develop a method for modeling corrosion behaviour of materials. Corrosion is also an issue for reactor design and an ability to predict failure points is needed. Finite element models could be used for this purpose, provided model accuracy is verified first. In Chapter 4 a technique is developed which facilitates the extraction of sub-micron resolution strain data from correlation images obtained during in-situ tensile deformation. By comparing image correlation results with a crystal plasticity finite element code it is found that good

Two methods for increasing the data capacity of a holographic data storage system (HDSS) were developed. The first method is called “run-length-limited (RLL) high-density recording”. An RLL modulation has the same effect as enlarging the pixel pitch; namely, it optically reduces the hologram size. Accordingly, the method doubles the raw-data recording density. The second method is called “RLL turbo signal processing”. The RLL turbo code consists of \\text{RLL}(1,∞ ) trellis modulation and an optimized convolutional code. The remarkable point of the developed turbo code is that it employs the RLL modulator and demodulator as parts of the error-correction process. The turbo code improves the capability of error correction more than a conventional LDPC code, even though interpixel interference is generated. These two methods will increase the data density 1.78-fold. Moreover, by simulation and experiment, a data density of 2.4 Tbit/in.2 is confirmed.

For a variety of molecules and earth materials, the theoretical local kinetic energy density, G(r(c)), increases and the local potential energy density, V(r(c)), decreases as the M-O bond lengths (M = first- and second-row metal atoms bonded to O) decrease and the electron density, rho(r(c)), accumulates at the bond critical points, r(c). Despite the claim that the local kinetic energy density per electronic charge, G(r(c))/rho(r(c)), classifies bonded interactions as shared interactions when less than unity and closed-shell when greater, the ratio was found to increase from 0.5 to 2.5 au as the local electronic energy density, H(r(c)) = G(r(c)) + V(r(c)), decreases and becomes progressively more negative. The ratio appears to be a measure of the character of a given M-O bonded interaction, the greater the ratio, the larger the value of rho(r(c)), the smaller the coordination number of the M atom and the more shared the bonded interaction. H(r(c))/rho(r(c)) versus G(r(c))/rho(r(c)) scatter diagrams categorize the M-O bonded interactions into domains with the local electronic energy density per electron charge, H(r(c))/rho(r(c)), tending to decrease as the electronegativity differences for the bonded pairs of atoms decrease. The values of G(r(c)) and V(r(c)), estimated with a gradient-corrected electron gas theory expression and the local virial theorem, are in good agreement with theoretical values, particularly for the bonded interactions involving second-row M atoms. The agreement is poorer for shared C-O and N-O bonded interactions.

The binding of double-stranded (ds) DNA to mica can be controlled through ion-exchanging the mica with divalent cations. Measurements of the end-to-end distance of linear DNA molecules discriminate whether the binding mechanism occurs through 2D surface equilibration or kinetic trapping. A range of linear dsDNA fragments have been used to investigate length dependences of binding. Mica, ion-exchanged with Ni(II) usually gives rise to kinetically trapped DNA molecules, however, short linear fragments (ion-exchanged mica is heterogeneous, and contains patches or domains, separating different ionic species. These results correlate with imaging of dsDNA under aqueous buffer on Ni(II)-mica and indicate that binding domains are of the order of 100 nm in diameter. Shorter DNA fragments behave intermediate to the two extreme cases of 2D equilibration and kinetic trapping. Increasing the incubation time of Ni(II) on mica, from minutes to hours, brings the conformations of the shorter DNA fragments closer to the theoretical value for kinetic trapping, indicating that long timescale kinetics play a role in ion-exchange. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to confirm that the relative abundance of Ni(II) ions on the mica surface increases with time. These findings can be used to enhance spatial control of binding of DNA to inorganic surfaces with a view to patterning high densities arrays.

A relationship between the auxiliary density, {rho}(r), defined within the framework of the weighted density approximation and the kinetic energy modulating factor, A{sub N}([{rho}(r)]; r), which appears in the local-scaling transformation version of density functional theory is presented. This relationship imposes the condition of positiveness on the kinetic energy modulating factor and this, in turn, leads to an important mathematical condition on any approximate kinetic energy density functional. It is shown that two well-known approximate kinetic energy density functionals do not satisfy the above relationship at distances very close to the nucleus. By forcing a given approximate kinetic energy density functional to obey the above condition, both the kinetic and exchange energies can be obtained within a framework similar to that of the weighted density approximation. Results on some closed-shell atomic systems provide support for those ideas.

The aim of this paper is to propose a framework to obtain a new formulation for multiphase flow conservation equations without length-scale restrictions, based on the non-local form of the averaged volume conservation equations. The simplification of the local averaging volume of the conservation equations to obtain practical equations is subject to the following length-scale restrictions: d << l << L, where d is the characteristic length of the dispersed phases, l is the characteristic length of the averaging volume, and L is the characteristic length of the physical system. If the foregoing inequality does not hold, or if the scale of the problem of interest is of the order of l, the averaging technique and therefore, the macroscopic theories of multiphase flow should be modified in order to include appropriate considerations and terms in the corresponding equations. In these cases the local form of the averaged volume conservation equations are not appropriate to describe the multiphase system. As an example of the conservation equations without length-scale restrictions, the natural circulation boiling water reactor was consider to study the non-local effects on the thermal-hydraulic core performance during steady-state and transient behaviors, and the results were compared with the classic local averaging volume conservation equations.

To understand and ultimately control the properties of most functional materials, from molecular soft-matter to quantum materials, requires access to the structure, coupling, and dynamics on the elementary time and lengthscales that define the microscopic interactions in these materials. To gain the desired nanometer spatial resolution with simultaneous spectroscopic specificity we combine scanning probe microscopy with different optical, including coherent, nonlinear, and ultrafast spectroscopies. The underlying near-field interaction mediated by the atomic-force or scanning tunneling microscope tip provides the desired deep-sub wavelength nano-focusing enabling few-nm spatial resolution. I will introduce our generalization of the approach in terms of the near-field impedance matching to a quantum system based on special optical antenna-tip designs. The resulting enhanced and qualitatively new forms of light-matter interaction enable measurements of quantum dynamics in an interacting environment or to image the electromagnetic local density of states of thermal radiation. Other applications include the inter-molecular coupling and dynamics in soft-matter hetero-structures, surface plasmon interferometry as a probe of electronic structure and dynamics in graphene, and quantum phase transitions in correlated electron materials. These examples highlight the general applicability of the new near-field microscopy approach, complementing emergent X-ray and electron imaging tools, aiming towards the ultimate goal of probing matter on its most elementary spatio-temporal level.

Flow-acoustic interactions due to fully turbulent inflow past a shallow axisymmetric cavity mounted in a pipe are investigated using a technique of high-image-density particle image velocimetry in conjunction with unsteady pressure measurements. This imaging leads to patterns of velocity, vorticity, streamline topology, and hydrodynamic contributions to the acoustic power integral. Global instantaneous images, as well as time-averaged images, are evaluated to provide insight into the flow physics during tone generation. Emphasis is on the manner in which the streamwise lengthscale of the cavity alters the major features of the flow structure. These image-based approaches allow identification of regions of the unsteady shear layer that contribute to the instantaneous hydrodynamic component of the acoustic power, which is necessary to maintain a flow tone. In addition, combined image analysis and pressure measurements allow categorization of the instantaneous flow patterns that are associated with types of time traces and spectra of the fluctuating pressure. In contrast to consideration based solely on pressure spectra, it is demonstrated that locked-on tones may actually exhibit intermittent, non-phase-locked images, apparently due to low damping of the acoustic resonator. Locked-on flow tones (without modulation or intermittency), locked-on flow tones with modulation, and non-locked-on oscillations with short-term, highly coherent fluctuations are defined and represented by selected cases. Depending on which of,these regimes occur, the time-averaged Q (quality)-factor and the dimensionless peak pressure are substantially altered.

Glacial modulation of melting beneath Iceland provides a unique opportunity to better understand both the nature and lengthscale of mantle heterogeneity. At the end of the last glacial period, ∼13 000 yr BP, eruption rates were ∼20-100 times greater than in glacial or late postglacial times and geophysical modeling posits that rapid melting of the large ice sheet covering Iceland caused a transient increase in mantle decompression melting rates. Here we present the first time-series of Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotopic data for a full glacial cycle from a spatially confined region of basaltic volcanism in northern Iceland. Basalts and picrites erupted during the early postglacial burst of volcanic activity are systematically offset to more depleted isotopic compositions than those of lavas erupted during glacial or recent (Iceland is heterogeneous on small (glacial unloading indicates that the isotopic composition of mantle heterogeneities can be linked to their melting behavior. The present geochemical data can be accounted for by a melting model in which a lithologically heterogeneous mantle source contains an enriched component more fusible than its companion depleted component.

Several recent predictions of extra dimensions and exotic particles include Yukawa-type modifications to the classical Newtonian gravitational potential at lengthscales and magnitudes that may be accessible in tabletop experiments. To test these theories of physics beyond the Standard Model, we have built a probe to measure forces as small as 10−18 N between masses separated by distances on the order of 25 microns. The force sensor is a micromachined silicon cantilever. A gold test mass approximately (50 x 50 x 30) μm3 in size is glued to the end of the cantilever. An alternating pattern of gold and silicon bars is oscillated below the test mass; the coupling between the test mass and the varying gravitational field of the moving drive mass excites the cantilever on resonance. A fiber interferometer measures the cantilever motion and from this measurement, the force between the masses is deduced. The experiment is run at low temperatures in vacuum to reduce the thermal noise of the cantileve...

The structure of tin borophosphate glasses, considered for the development of low temperature sealing glasses or anode materials for Li-batteries, has been analysed at the intermediate lengthscale by a combination of high field standard and advanced 1D/2D nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. The nature and extent of B/P mixing were analysed using the (11)B((31)P) dipolar heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence NMR sequence and the data interpretation allowed (i) detecting the presence and analysing the nature of the B-O-P linkages, (ii) re-interpreting the 1D (31)P spectra and (iii) extracting the proportion of P connected to borate species. Interaction between the different borate species was analysed using the (11)B double quantum-simple quantum experiment to (i) investigate the presence and nature of the B-O-B linkage, (ii) assign the different borate species observed all along the composition line and (iii) monitor the borate network formation. In addition, (119)Sn static NMR was used to investigate the evolution of the chemical environment of the tin polyhedra. Altogether, the set of data allowed determining the structural units constituting the glass network and quantifying the extent of B/P mixing. The structural data were then used to explain the non-linear and unusual evolution of the glass transition temperature.

Lean premixed combustion provides a means to reduce pollutant formation and increase combustion efficiency. However, fuel-air mixing is rarely uniform in space and time. This nonuniformity in concentration will lead to relative increases in pollutant formation and decreases in combustion efficiency. The nonuniformity of the concentration at the exit of the premixer has been defined by Lyons (1981) as the {open_quotes}unmixedness.{close_quotes} Although turbulence properties such as lengthscales and strain rate are known to effect unmixedness, the exact relationship is unknown. Evaluating this relationship and the effect of unmixedness in premixed combustion on pollutant formation and combustion efficiency are an important part of the overall goal of US Department of Energy`s Advanced Turbine Systems (ATS) program and are among the goals of the program described herein. The information obtained from ATS is intended to help to develop and commercialize gas turbines which have (1) a wide range of operation/stability, (2) a minimal amount of pollutant formation, and (3) high combustion efficiency. Specifically, with regard to pollutants, the goals are to reduce the NO{sub x} emissions by at least 10%, obtain less than 20 PPM of both CO and UHC, and increase the combustion efficiency by 5%.

Fine root tumover is a major pathway for carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and is most likely sensitive to many global change factors.Despite the importance of fine root turnover in plant C allocation and nutrient cycling dynamics and the tremendous research efforts in the past,our understanding of it remains limited.This is because the dynamics processes associated with soil resources availability are still poorly understood.Soil moisture,temperature,and available nitrogen are the most important soil characteristics that impact fine root growth and mortality at both the individual root branch and at the ecosystem level.In temperate forest ecosystems,seasonal changes of soil resource availability will alter the pattern of carbon allocation to belowground.Therefore,fine root biomass,root lengthdensity(RLD)and specific root length(SRL)vary during the growing season.Studying seasonal changes of fine root biomass,RLD,and SRL associated with soil resource availability will help us understand the mechanistic controls of carbon to fine root longevity and turnover.The objective of this study was to understand whether seasonal variations of fine root biomass,RLD and SRL were associated with soil resource availability,such as moisture,temperature,and nitrogen,and to understand how these soil components impact fine root dynamics in Larix gmelinii plantation.We used a soil coring method to obtain fine root samples(≤2 mm in diameter)every month from Mav to October in 2002 from a 17-year-old L.gmelinii plantation in Maoershan Experiment Station,Northeast Forestry University,China.Seventy-two soil cores(inside diameter 60 mm;depth intervals:0-10 cm,10-20 cm,20-30 cm)were sampled randomly from three replicates 25 m×30 m plots to estimate fine root biomass(live and dead),and calculate RLD and SRL.Soil moisture,temperature,and nitrogen(ammonia and nitrates)at three depth intervals were also analyzed in these plots.Results showed that the average standing fine

We propose a convex variational approach to compute localized density matrices for both zero temperature and finite temperature cases, by adding an entry-wise $\\ell_1$ regularization to the free energy of the quantum system. Based on the fact that the density matrix decays exponential away from the diagonal for insulating system or system at finite temperature, the proposed $\\ell_1$ regularized variational method provides a nice way to approximate the original quantum system. We provide theoretical analysis of the approximation behavior and also design convergence guaranteed numerical algorithms based on Bregman iteration. More importantly, the $\\ell_1$ regularized system naturally leads to localized density matrices with banded structure, which enables us to develop approximating algorithms to find the localized density matrices with computation cost linearly dependent on the problem size.

The main motivation to study models in the presence of a minimal length is to obtain a quantum field theory free of the divergences. In this way, in this paper, we have constructed a new framework for quantum electrodynamics embedded in a minimal lengthscale background. New operators are introduced and the Green function method was used for the solution of the field equations, i.e., the Maxwell, Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations. We have analyzed specifically the scalar field and its one loop propagator. The mass of the scalar field regularized by the minimal length was obtained. The QED Lagrangian containing a minimal length was also constructed and the divergences were analyzed. The electron and photon propagators, and the electron self-energy at one loop as a function of the minimal length was also obtained.

K_s-band images of 20 barred galaxies show an increase in the peak amplitude of the normalized m=2 Fourier component with the R_25-normalized radius at this peak. This implies that longer bars have higher $m=2$ amplitudes. The long bars also correlate with an increased density in the central parts of the disks, as measured by the luminosity inside 0.25R_25 divided by the cube of this radius in kpc. Because denser galaxies evolve faster, these correlations suggest that bars grow in length and amplitude over a Hubble time with the fastest evolution occurring in the densest galaxies. All but three of the sample have early-type flat bars; there is no clear correlation between the correlated quantities and the Hubble type.

A theorem was proven, which reads that the number of nonzero two-electron integrals scales linearly with respect to the number of basis functions for large molecular systems. This permits to show that linear scaling property of the Fock matrix calculation with using density prescreening arises due to linear scaling properties of the number of nonzero two-electron integrals and the number of leading matrix elements of density matrix. This property is reinforced by employing the density prescreening technique. The use of the density difference prescreening further improves the linear scaling property of the Fock matrix calculation method. As a result, the linear scaling regime of the Fock matrix calculation can begin from the number of basis functions of 2000–3000 in dependence on the basis function type in molecular calculations. It was also shown that the conventional algorithm of Fock matrix calculation from stored nonzero two-electron integrals with density prescreening possesses linear scaling property.

Full Text Available As a salt-tolerant arbor tree species, Salix matsudana plays an important role in afforestation and greening in the coastal areas of China. To select superior Salix varieties that adapt to wide saline areas, it is of paramount importance to understand and identify the mechanisms of salt-tolerance at the level of the whole genome. Here, we describe a high-density genetic linkage map of S. matsudana that represents a good coverage of the Salix genome. An intraspecific F1 hybrid population was established by crossing the salt-sensitive "Yanjiang" variety as the female parent with the salt-tolerant "9901" variety as the male parent. This population, along with its parents, was genotyped by specific length amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq, leading to 277,333 high-quality SLAF markers. By marker analysis, we found that both the parents and offspring were tetraploid. The mean sequencing depth was 53.20-fold for "Yanjiang", 47.41-fold for "9901", and 11.02-fold for the offspring. Of the SLAF markers detected, 42,321 are polymorphic with sufficient quality for map construction. The final genetic map was constructed using 6,737 SLAF markers, covering 38 linkage groups (LGs. The genetic map spanned 5,497.45 cM in length, with an average distance of 0.82 cM. As a first high-density genetic map of S. matsudana constructed from salt tolerance-varying varieties, this study will provide a foundation for mapping quantitative trait loci that modulate salt tolerance and resistance in Salix and provide important references for molecular breeding of this important forest tree.

As a salt-tolerant arbor tree species, Salix matsudana plays an important role in afforestation and greening in the coastal areas of China. To select superior Salix varieties that adapt to wide saline areas, it is of paramount importance to understand and identify the mechanisms of salt-tolerance at the level of the whole genome. Here, we describe a high-density genetic linkage map of S. matsudana that represents a good coverage of the Salix genome. An intraspecific F1 hybrid population was established by crossing the salt-sensitive "Yanjiang" variety as the female parent with the salt-tolerant "9901" variety as the male parent. This population, along with its parents, was genotyped by specific length amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq), leading to 277,333 high-quality SLAF markers. By marker analysis, we found that both the parents and offspring were tetraploid. The mean sequencing depth was 53.20-fold for "Yanjiang", 47.41-fold for "9901", and 11.02-fold for the offspring. Of the SLAF markers detected, 42,321 are polymorphic with sufficient quality for map construction. The final genetic map was constructed using 6,737 SLAF markers, covering 38 linkage groups (LGs). The genetic map spanned 5,497.45 cM in length, with an average distance of 0.82 cM. As a first high-density genetic map of S. matsudana constructed from salt tolerance-varying varieties, this study will provide a foundation for mapping quantitative trait loci that modulate salt tolerance and resistance in Salix and provide important references for molecular breeding of this important forest tree.

The hypothesis of increasing the branch density of starch to reduce its digestion rate through partial shortening of amylopectin exterior chains and the length of amylose was investigated. Starch products prepared using beta-amylase, beta-amylase and transglucosidase, maltogenic alpha-amylase, and maltogenic alpha-amylase and transglucosidase showed significant reduction of rapidly digested starch by 14.5%, 29.0%, 19.8%, and 31.0% with a concomitant increase of slowly digested starch by 9.0%, 19.7%, 5.7%, and 11.0%, respectively. The resistant starch content increased from 5.1% to 13.5% in treated starches. The total contents of the prebiotics isomaltose, isomaltotriose, and panose (Isomaltooligosaccharides) were 2.3% and 5.5%, respectively, for beta-amylase/transglucosidase- and maltogenic alpha-amylase/transglucosidase-treated starches. The molecular weight distribution of enzyme-treated starches and their debranched chain length distributions, analyzed using high-performance size-exclusion chromatography with multiangle laser light scattering and refractive index detection (HPSEC-MALLS-RI) and HPSEC-RI, showed distinctly different patterns among starches with different enzyme treatments. A larger proportion of low molecular weight fractions appeared in starches treated additionally with transglucosidase. All enzyme-treated starches showed a mixture of B- and V-type X-ray diffraction patterns, and 1H NMR spectra showed a significant increase of alpha-1,6 linkages. Both the increase of the starch branch density and the crystalline structure in the treated starches likely contribute to their slow digestion property.

If the large-scale structure in the universe is formed by gravitational clustering of less than 0 density fluctuations, the correlation function of massive objects/clusters of the clustering hierarchy would be increased over the underlying mass autocorrelation function. This means that if light traces mass, the peculiar gravitational field on the average would be stronger when measured by galaxies associated with such clusters. This in turn would lead to larger rms peculiar velocities deduced from the motions of such samples. Ellipticals are known to populate preferentially dense regions/(rich) clusters, and it is, therefore, suggested that this mechanism is responsible for the large peculiar motions observed recently by the Seven Samurai in a sample of elliptical galaxies. On the assumption that light traces mass, these and the cluster-cluster correlation function results are consistent with gravitational clustering of n of about -1 fluctuations in Omega of about 0.2 universe. It is further shown that according to the gravitational clustering theory, galaxies selected preferentially from poor groups should exhibit small rms peculiar velocities. 21 refs.

Full Text Available The first (and second baroclinic deformation (or Rossby radii are presented and discussed north of ~60° N, focusing on deep basins and shelf seas in the high Arctic Ocean, the Nordic Seas, Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, derived from high-resolution ice-ocean general circulation model output. Comparison of the model output with measured results shows that low values of the Rossby radius (in shallow water and high values (in the Canada Basin are accurately reproduced, while intermediate values (in the region of the Makarov and Amundsen Basins are overestimated. In the high Arctic Ocean, the first Rossby radius increases from ~5 km in the Nansen Basin to ~15 km in the central Canadian Basin. In the shelf seas and elsewhere, values are low (1–7 km, reflecting weak density stratification, shallow water, or both. Seasonality only strongly impacts the Rossby radii in shallow seas where winter homogenisation of the water column can reduce it to the order of 100 m. We also offer an interpretation and explanation of the observed scales of Arctic Ocean eddies.

The two bond length alternation related backbone carbon-carbon stretching Raman active normal modes of polyacetylene are notoriously difficulty to predict theoretically. We apply our new linear/exponential scaled quantum mechanical force field scheme to tackle this problem by exponentially adjusting the decay of the coupling force constants between backbone stretchings based on their distance which extends over many neighbors. With transferable scaling parameters optimized by least squares fitting to the experimental vibrational frequencies of short oligoenes, the scaled frequencies of trans-polyacetylene and its isotopic analogs agree very well with experiments. The linear/exponential scaling scheme is also applicable to the cis-polyacetylene case.

Microwave (MW) thawing of 2D frozen cylinders exposed to uniform plane waves from one face, is modeled using the effective heat capacity formulation with the MW power obtained from the electric field equations. Computations are illustrated for tylose (23% methyl cellulose gel) which melts over a range of temperatures giving rise to a mushy zone. Within the mushy region the dielectric properties are functions of the liquid volume fraction. The resulting coupled, time dependent non-linear equation are solved using the Galerkin finite element method with a fixed mesh. Our method efficiently captures the multiple connected thawed domains that arise due to the penetration of MWs in the sample. For a cylinder of diameter D, the two lengthscales that control the thawing dynamics are D/D{sub p}, and D/{lambda}{sub m}, where D{sub p} and {lambda}{sub m} are the penetration depth and wavelength of radiation in the sample respectively. For D/D{sub p}, D/{lambda}{sub m}<<1 power absorption is uniform and thawing occurs almost simultaneously across the sample (Regime I). For D/D{sub p}>>1 thawing is seen to occur from the incident face, since the power decays exponentially into the sample (Regime III). At intermediate values, 0.2

With elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic emissions and disruption to the carbon cycle, the effects of climate change are being accelerated. Approximately 80% of Earth's terrestrial organic carbon is stored in soil, and the residence time of this carbon can range from hours to millenia. Understanding the dynamics of this carbon pool in the carbon cycle is crucial to both predicting climate and sustaining ecosystem services. Soil organic carbon is known to be strongly associated with high surface area clay minerals. The nature of these interactions is not well understood primarily due to the heterogeneity of soil, as much of the current knowledge relies on experiments that take a top-down approach using bulk experimental measurements. Our work seeks to probe physical, chemical, and molecular-level interactions at the organic-mineral interface using a bottom-up approach that establishes a model system where complexity can be built in systematically. By performing in situ techniques such as dynamic force spectroscopy, a technique where organic molecules can be brought into contact with mineral surfaces in a controlled manner using an atomic force microscope, we demonstrate the ability to mechanistically probe the energy landscape of individual organic molecules with mineral surfaces. We demonstrate the ability to measure the binding energies of soil-inspired organic functional groups (including carboxylic acid, amine, methyl, and phosphate) with clay and mineral surfaces as a function of solution chemistry. This effort can provide researchers with both guiding principles about carbon dynamics at the sub-nanometer lengthscale and insights into early aggregation events, where organic-mineral interactions play a significant role.

Distributions of Mg and Sr in the skeletons of a deep-sea coral ( Caryophyllia ambrosia) and a shallow-water, reef-building coral ( Pavona clavus) have been obtained with a spatial resolution of 150 nm, using the NanoSIMS ion microprobe at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. These trace element analyses focus on the two primary ultra-structural components in the skeleton: centers of calcification (COC) and fibrous aragonite. In fibrous aragonite, the trace element variations are typically on the order of 10% or more, on lengthscales on the order of 1-10 μm. Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca variations are not correlated. However, Mg/Ca variations in Pavona are strongly correlated with the layered organization of the skeleton. These data allow for a direct comparison of trace element variations in zooxanthellate and non-zooxanthellate corals. In both corals, all trace elements show variations far beyond what can be attributed to variations in the marine environment. Furthermore, the observed trace element variations in the fibrous (bulk) part of the skeletons are not related to the activity of zooxanthellae, but result from other biological activity in the coral organism. To a large degree, this biological forcing is independent of the ambient marine environment, which is essentially constant on the growth timescales considered here. Finally, we discuss the possible detection of a new high-Mg calcium carbonate phase, which appears to be present in both deep-sea and reef-building corals and is neither aragonite nor calcite.

The statistical theory of strong turbulence in inhomogeneous plasmas is developed for the cases where fluctuations with different scalelengths coexist. Nonlinear interactions in the same kind of fluctuations as well as nonlinear interplay between different classes of fluctuations are kept in the analysis. Nonlinear interactions are modelled as turbulent drag, nonlinear noise and nonlinear drive, and a set of Langevin equations is formulated. With the help of an Ansatz of a large number of degrees of freedom with positive Lyapunov number, Langevin equations are solved and the fluctuation dissipation theorem in the presence of strong plasma turbulence has been derived. A case where two driving mechanisms (one for the micro mode and the other for semi-micro mode) coexist is investigated. It is found that there are several states of fluctuations: in one state, the micro mode is excited and the semi-micro mode is quenched; in the other state, the semi-micro mode is excited, and the micro mode remains at finite but at a suppressed level. A new type of turbulence transition is obtained, and a cusp-type catastrophe is revealed. A phase diagram is drawn for turbulence which is composed of multiple classes of fluctuations. The influence of the inhomogeneous global radial electric field is discussed. A new insight is given for the physics of the internal transport barrier. Finally, the non-local heat transport due to the long-wavelength fluctuations, which are noise-pumped by shorter-wavelength fluctuations, is analysed and its impact on transient transport problems is discussed. (author)

Graphical abstract: The electronic properties such as the static dipole polarizability, anisotropy of the polarizability, and dipole moment of yttrium bromide, YBr (X{sup 1}{Sigma}) have been theoretically studied. Highlights: {yields} Conventional ab initio and density functional theory methods were employed to study linear optical properties of YBr molecule. {yields} Properties derivatives and their level of theory dependence were studied. {yields} Electron correlation effects and rovibrational corrections have also been discussed. - Abstract: We have employed conventional ab initio and density functional theory methods to study the electronic properties such as the mean static dipole polarizability, {alpha}-bar, anisotropy of the polarizability, {Delta}{alpha}, and dipole moment, {mu}, of yttrium bromide. The bond length dependence of properties is determined at different levels of theory and appropriate expansions around experimental internuclear distance have been presented. Moreover, the first and second geometrical derivatives for each property are quantified and their level of theory dependence has been analyzed. To study the effect of molecular rotation and vibration on the electronic properties, the rovibrational corrections have also been carried out. It is found that these corrections are less pronounced for considered properties of YBr. In all calculations, the electron correlation effects have been considered and discussed. The obtained results show that the electron correlation is more significant in the calculation of the mean and the anisotropy of dipole polarizability.

the flow events. We show that simulations at a single density in conjunction with an equilibrium-liquid simulation at the same density allow one to predict the plastic flow-event statistics at other densities. This is done by applying the recently established “hidden scale invariance” of simple liquids...

Foraging theory predicts which prey patches predators should target. However, in most habitats, what constitutes a 'patch' and how prey density is calculated are subjective concepts and depend on the spatial scale at which the predator (or scientist) is observing. Moreover, the predator's 'foraging scale' affects prey population dynamics: predators should produce directly density-dependent (DDD) prey mortality at the foraging scale, but inversely density-dependent (IDD) mortality (safety-in-numbers) at smaller scales. We performed the first experimental test of these predictions using behavioral assays with guppies (Poecilia reticulata) feeding on bloodworm 'prey' patches. The guppy's foraging scale had already been estimated in a prior study. Our experimental results confirmed theoretical predictions: predation was IDD when prey were aggregated at a scale smaller than the foraging scale, but not when prey were aggregated at larger scales. These results could be used to predict outcomes of predator-prey interactions in continuous, non-discrete habitats in the field.

interactions with human activity requires knowledge of how many animals are present in an area during a specific time period. Many marine mammal species ...Ocean at Wake Island will then be applied to the same species in the Indian Ocean at the CTBTO location at Diego Garcia. 1. Develop and implement...proposed density estimation method is also highly dependent on call rate inputs, which are used in the development of species specific multipliers for

Pore lengthscales and pore surface relaxivities of rock cores with different lithologies were studied on a 2MHz Rock Core Analyzer. To determine the pore lengthscales of the rock cores, the high eigenmodes of spin bearing molecules satisfying the diffusion equation were detected with optimized encoding periods in the presence of internal magnetic fields Bin. The results were confirmed using a 64MHz NMR system, which supports the feasibility of high eigenmode detection at fields as low as 2MHz. Furthermore, this methodology was combined with relaxometry measurements to a two-dimensional experiment, which provides correlation between pore length and relaxation time. This techniques also yields information on the surface relaxivity of the rock cores. The estimated surface relaxivities were then compared to the results using an independent NMR method.

This work introduces a series of molecular bridging bi-functional linkers to produce laterally self-assembled nanostructures of the Au–CdSe nanoflowers on different lengthscales ranging from 10 nm to 100 microns. Assembly of Au nanocrystals within amorphous CdSe rods is found in the early stages of the growth of the Au–CdSe nanoflowers. The Au–CdSe nanoflowers are formed through a one-pot low temperature (150 °C) process where CdSe clusters are adsorbed on the surface of the Au cores, and they then start to form multiple arms and branches resulting in flower-shaped hybrid nanostructures. More complex assembly at a micron lengthscale can be achieved by means of bi-functional capping agents with appropriate alkyl chain lengths, such as 1,12-diaminododecane.

The phase-field model has been attracting considerable attention due to its capability of capturing complex crack propagations without mesh dependence. However, its validation studies have primarily focused on the ability to predict reasonable, sharply defined crack paths. Very limited works have so far been contributed to estimate its accuracy in predicting force responses, which is majorly attributed to the difficulty in the determination of the lengthscale. Indeed, accurate crack path simulation can be achieved by setting the lengthscale to be sufficiently small, whereas a very small lengthscale may lead to unrealistic force-displacement responses and overestimate critical structural loads. This paper aims to provide a critical numerical investigation of the accuracy of phase-field modelling of brittle fracture with special emphasis on a possible formula for the lengthscale estimation. Phase-field simulations of a number of classical fracture experiments for brittle fracture in concretes are performed with simulated results compared with experimental data qualitatively and quantitatively to achieve this goal. Furthermore, discussions are conducted with the aim to provide guidelines for the application of the phase-field model.

Experimental data on particle correlations and fluctuations in various high-energy multiparticle collisions are presented, with special emphasis on evidence for scaling-law evolution in small phase-space domains. The notions of intermittency and fractality as related to the above findings are described. Phenomenological and theoretical work on the subject is reviewed. (orig.).

Flow-acoustic interactions due to fully turbulent inflow past a shallow axisymmetric cavity mounted in a pipe, which give rise to flow tones, are investigated using a technique of high-image-density particle image velocimetry in conjunction with unsteady pressure measurements. This imaging leads to patterns of velocity, vorticity, streamline topology, and hydrodynamic contributions to the acoustic power integral. Global instantaneous images, as well as time-averaged images, are evaluated to provide insight into the flow physics during tone generation. Emphasis is on the manner in which the streamwise lengthscale of the cavity alters the major features of the flow structure. These image-based approaches allow identification of regions of the unsteady shear layer that contribute to the instantaneous hydrodynamic component of the acoustic power, which is necessary to maintain a flow tone. In addition, combined image analysis and pressure measurements allow categorization of the instantaneous flow patterns that are associated with types of time traces and spectra of the fluctuating pressure. In contrast to consideration based solely on pressure spectra, it is demonstrated that locked-on tones may actually exhibit intermittent, non-phase-locked images, apparently due to low damping of the acoustic resonator. Locked-on flow tones (without modulation or intermittency), locked-on flow tones with modulation, and non-locked-on oscillations with short-term, highly coherent fluctuations are defined and represented by selected cases. Depending on which of these regimes occur, the time-averaged Q (quality)-factor and the dimensionless peak pressure are substantially altered.

We study a scenario for the very early universe in which there is a fast phase transition from a non-geometric, high temperature phase to a low temperature, geometric phase described by a classical solution to the Einstein equations. In spite of the absence of a classical metric, the thermodynamics of the high temperature phase may be described by making use of the holographic principle. The thermal spectrum of fluctuations in the high temperature phase manifest themselves after the phase transition as a scale invariant spectrum of fluctuations. A simple model of the phase transition confirms that the near scale invariance of the fluctuations is natural; but the model also withstands detailed comparison with the data.

We study a scenario for the very early universe in which there is a fast phase transition from a non-geometric, high temperature phase to a low temperature, geometric phase described by a classical solution to the Einstein equations. In spite of the absence of a classical metric, the thermodynamics of the high temperature phase may be described by making use of the holographic principle. The thermal spectrum of fluctuations in the high temperature phase manifests itself after the phase transition as a scale-invariant spectrum of fluctuations. A simple model of the phase transition confirms that the near scale invariance of the fluctuations is natural, but the model also withstands a detailed comparison with the data.

Results from molecular dynamics simulations of two viscous molecular model liquids -- the Lewis-Wahnstrom model of ortho-terphenyl and an asymmetric dumbbell model -- are reported. We demonstrate that the liquids have a ``hidden'' approximate scale invariance: Equilibrium potential energy fluctuations are accurately described by inverse power law (IPL) potentials, the radial distribution functions are accurately reproduced by the IPL's, and the radial distribution functions obey the IPL predi...

Neutron imaging and scattering give data of significantly different nature and traditional methods leave a gap of accessible structure sizes at around 10 micrometers. Only in recent years overlap in the probed size ranges could be achieved by independent application of high resolution scattering and imaging methods, however without providing full structural information when microstructures vary on a macroscopic scale. In this study we show how quantitative neutron dark-field imaging with a novel experimental approach provides both sub-pixel resolution with respect to microscopic correlation lengths and imaging of macroscopic variations of the microstructure. Thus it provides combined information on multiple lengthscales. A dispersion of micrometer sized polystyrene colloids was chosen as a model system to study gravity induced crystallisation of microspheres on a macro scale, including the identification of ordered as well as unordered phases. Our results pave the way to study heterogeneous systems locally in a previously impossible manner. PMID:28303923

extrusion. Density Measurement Density measurements were performed in accordance with Archimedes ’ principle on four randomly selected polished...of Engineering Materials, second ed., McGraw-Hill, New York (1999). [6] R. M. German, Sintering Theory and Practice, John Wiley and Sons Inc., New

Scaling relations play an important role in the understanding and development of approximate functionals in density functional theory. Recently, a number of these relationships have been redefined in terms of the Kohn-Sham orbitals [Calderín, Phys. Rev. A: At., Mol., Opt. Phys., 2013, 86, 032510]. For densityscaling the author proposed a procedure involving a multiplicative scaling of the Kohn-Sham orbitals whilst keeping their occupation numbers fixed. In the present work, the differences between this scaling with fixed occupation numbers and that of previous studies, where the particle number change implied by the scaling was accommodated through the use of the grand canonical ensemble, are examined. We introduce the terms orbital and ensemble densityscaling for these approaches, respectively. The natural ambiguity of the densityscaling of the non-interacting kinetic energy functional is examined and the ancillary definitions implicit in each approach are highlighted and compared. As a consequence of these differences, Calderín recovered a homogeneity of degree 1 for the non-interacting kinetic energy functional under orbital scaling, contrasting recent work by the present authors [J. Chem. Phys., 2012, 136, 034101] where the functional was found to be inhomogeneous under ensemble densityscaling. Furthermore, we show that the orbital scaling result follows directly from the linearity and the single-particle nature of the kinetic energy operator. The inhomogeneity of the non-interacting kinetic energy functional under ensemble densityscaling can be quantified by defining an effective homogeneity. This quantity is shown to recover the homogeneity values for important approximate forms that are exact for limiting cases such as the uniform electron gas and one-electron systems. We argue that the ensemble densityscaling provides more insight into the development of new functional forms.

Two experiments examined underlying cognitive processes that may explain why it is harder to learn to read in English than in more transparent orthographies such as German and Dutch. Participants were English and Dutch readers from Grades 3 and 4. Experiment 1 probed the transition from serial to more parallel processing, as measured by the word length effect for words and pseudowords. English children took longer to make the transition to more parallel reading strategies for words than Dutch children. In contrast, Dutch children continued to use more serial reading strategies for pseudowords. Experiment 2 investigated children's sensitivity to the orthographic overlap between words, as measured by the size of orthographic neighborhood effects for words and pseudowords. Children reading Dutch showed greater sensitivity to the overlap between both words and pseudowords than English children. Cross-linguistic differences in the transition from serial to parallel reading strategies are discussed within the framework offered by the self-teaching hypothesis and the orthographic depth hypothesis. Finally, it is argued that differences between the two languages in the effect of orthographic neighborhood size are a result of cross-linguistic differences in orthographic density and not cross-linguistic differences in orthographic transparency.

Full Text Available High-density genetic linkage map plays an important role in genome assembly and QTL ﬁne mapping. Since the coming of next-generation sequencing (NGS, makes the structure of high-density linkage maps much more convenient and practical, which simplifies SNP discovery and high-throughput genotyping. In this research, a high-density linkage map of cucumber was structured using specific length amplified fragment sequencing, using 153 F2 populations of S1000×S1002. The high-density genetic map composed 3,057 SLAFs, including 4,475 SNP markers on 7 chromosomes, and spanned 1061.19cM. The average genetic distance is 0.35cM. Based on this high-density genome map, QTL analysis was performed on two cucumber fruit traits, fruit length and fruit diameter. There are 15 QTLs for the two fruit traits were detected.

Measurements of critical temperature Tc in superconducting YBa2Cu3O6.9 films with reduced long-range structural order show the validity of the empirical scaling relation ΔTc propto rc-2 between disorder-induced reduction of Tc and structural coherence length rc in the ab-plane. This result is quantitatively explained by the disorder-induced confinement of the charge carriers within each ordered domain of size rc. Our analysis of the data based on this picture enables us to precisely determine the Ginzburg-Landau superconducting coherence length in the ab-plane, ξab = 1.41 ± 0.04 nm.

Turbulence enhances both heat and CO2 gas exchange at a free surface. At the air-water interface, heat and mass transport is controlled by a thin thermal/diffusive boundary layer. Turbulence in the flow acts to thin the heat and mass boundary layers, thereby increasing the rate at which surface water is mixed into the bulk. Surface water is typically cool, and mixing replaces it with warmer water from the bulk. In our experiment, and in many environmental cases, the surface has a higher concentration of dissolved CO2 and carbonate species. . The dissolved gas is transported between the surface and bulk in a similar way to the heat. Because of this similarity, attempts are often made to find and exploit a relationship between the heat and mass transfer. Using a laboratory tank, which generates turbulence with very low mean shear flow, we measured heat and mass transfer by using infrared imagery to map the two-dimensional surface temperature field and by using planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) to map the two-dimensional subsurface CO2 flux. In addition, particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure subsurface velocity fields. A comparative analysis of these results allows us to determine the similarities and differences between heat, mass, and momentum transport at a free surface. This will contribute to the use of one quantity to predict transport of the others. The setup used here, i.e., turbulence with very low mean shear at the surface, allows us to evaluate the turbulent components of interfacial flux in a way that can be applied equally well to flows created by wind, waves, or current. Here, we quantify the integral length and time scales of the surface temperature and sub-surface CO2 and velocity measurements. Initial analysis shows that the integral lengthscales of temperature at the surface are significantly smaller than the sub-surface velocity scales. However, the integral scale of sub-surface velocity decreases approaching the surface. The

Displacement-length data from faults, joints, veins, igneous dikes, shear deformation bands, and compaction bands define two groups. The first group, having a power-law scaling relation with a slope of n = 1 and therefore a linear dependence of maximum displacement and discontinuity length (Dmax = ??L), comprises faults and shear (non-compactional or non-dilational) deformation bands. These shearing-mode structures, having shearing strains that predominate over volumetric strains across them, grow under conditions of constant driving stress, with the magnitude of near-tip stress on the same order as the rock's yield strength in shear. The second group, having a power-law scaling relation with a slope of n = 0.5 and therefore a dependence of maximum displacement on the square root of discontinuity length (Dmax = ??L0.5), comprises joints, veins, igneous dikes, cataclastic deformation bands, and compaction bands. These opening- and closing-mode structures grow under conditions of constant fracture toughness, implying significant amplification of near-tip stress within a zone of small-scale yielding at the discontinuity tip. Volumetric changes accommodated by grain fragmentation, and thus control of propagation by the rock's fracture toughness, are associated with scaling of predominantly dilational and compactional structures with an exponent of n = 0.5. ?? 2008 Elsevier Ltd.

Both large-eddy simulations (LES) and water-tunnel experiments, using simultaneous stereoscopic particle image velocimetry and laser-induced fluorescence, have been used to investigate pollutant dispersion mechanisms in regions where the surface changes from rural to urban roughness. The urban roughness was characterized by an array of rectangular obstacles in an in-line arrangement. The streamwise lengthscale of the roughness was kept constant, while the spanwise lengthscale was varied by varying the obstacle aspect ratio l / h between 1 and 8, where l is the spanwise dimension of the obstacles and h is the height of the obstacles. Additionally, the case of two-dimensional roughness (riblets) was considered in LES. A smooth-wall turbulent boundary layer of depth 10h was used as the approaching flow, and a line source of passive tracer was placed 2h upstream of the urban canopy. The experimental and numerical results show good agreement, while minor discrepancies are readily explained. It is found that for l/h=2 the drag induced by the urban canopy is largest of all considered cases, and is caused by a large-scale secondary flow. In addition, due to the roughness transition the vertical advective pollutant flux is the main ventilation mechanism in the first three streets. Furthermore, by means of linear stochastic estimation the mean flow structure is identified that is responsible for street-canyon ventilation for the sixth street and onwards. Moreover, it is shown that the vertical lengthscale of this structure increases with increasing aspect ratio of the obstacles in the canopy, while the streamwise lengthscale does not show a similar trend.

We perform molecular dynamics simulations to study static and dynamic lengthscales in molecular supercooled liquids, in particular, water. For a determination of these scales, we use equilibrium configurations and pin appropriate subsets of molecules so as to obtain random matrices, cylindrical pores, and slit confinements. Static lengthscales ξ(s) are determined by analyzing overlap correlation functions for various fractions of pinned molecules or distances to the confining walls. For water in all confinements and for propylene oxide trimers in random geometry, a linear increase of ξ(s) with inverse temperature is found. Dynamic lengthscales ξ(d) are determined by analogous analysis of fraction-dependent or position-resolved correlation times of structural relaxation. While ξ(d) continuously grows upon cooling in the cylindrical and slit confinements, we find no evidence for a temperature dependence in random matrices, implying that molecular dynamics in parsed volumes is qualitatively different from that in bulk liquids. Finally, we study possible connections between the growth of the static and dynamic lengthscales and the slowdown of the structural relaxation of the supercooled bulk liquids. For water, we observe a linear relation between ln τ(α) and ξ(s)²/T in the whole accessible range down to the critical temperature of mode-coupling theory, T(c). In the weakly supercooled regime, the same relation holds also for ξ(d), as obtained from cylindrical and slit confinements, but deviations from this behavior are observed near T(c). The results are discussed in connection with random first-order theory and experimental studies of liquid dynamics in nanoscopic confinements and binary mixtures.

Population densities of wildlife species tend to be correlated with resource productivity of habitats. However, wildlife density has been greatly modified by increasing human influences. For effective conservation, we must first identify the significant factors that affect wildlife density, and then determine the extent of the areas in which the factors should be managed. Here, we propose a protocol that accomplishes these two tasks. The main threats to wildlife are thought to be habitat alteration and hunting, with increases in alien carnivores being a concern that has arisen recently. Here, we examined the effect of these anthropogenic disturbances, as well as natural factors, on the local density of Yakushima macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui). We surveyed macaque densities at 30 sites across their habitat using data from 403 automatic cameras. We quantified the effect of natural vegetation (broad-leaved forest, mixed coniferous/broad-leaved forest, etc.), altered vegetation (forestry area and agricultural land), hunting pressure, and density of feral domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). The effect of each vegetation type was analyzed at numerous spatial scales (between 150 and 3,600-m radii from the camera locations) to determine the best scale for explaining macaque density (effective spatial scale). A model-selection procedure (generalized linear mixed model) was used to detect significant factors affecting macaque density. We detected that the most effective spatial scale was 400 m in radius, a scale that corresponded to group range size of the macaques. At this scale, the amount of broad-leaved forest was selected as a positive factor, whereas mixed forest and forestry area were selected as negative factors for macaque density. This study demonstrated the importance of the simultaneous evaluation of all possible factors of wildlife population density at the appropriate spatial scale.

Many modern theories which try to unify gravity with the Standard Model of particle physics, such as e.g. string theory, propose two key modifications to the commonly known physical theories: the existence of additional space dimensions; the existence of a minimal length distance or maximal resolution. While extra dimensions have received a wide…

Youth mentoring relationships have significant potential for promoting positive youth development. Nonetheless, the benefits derived from such relationships depend considerably on the length and quality of the bonds that are created between mentors and youth. Although some attention has been paid to youth's experience of relationship quality, few…

A new second moment turbulence model which uses separate transport and decay lengthscales is used to model the shock-driven instability. The ability of the model to capture the evolution of turbulence statistics and mixing is discussed. Evaluation is based on comparison to the Georgia Tech shock tube experiments. In the experiments a membraneless light-over-heavy interface is created. There is a long-wavelength perturbation which exists due to inclination of the entire shock tube. By limiting calculations to one dimension, there is not a geometric description of the incline, and the ability of the transport lengthscale alone to capture the effect of the long-wavelength perturbation is tested.

Full Text Available The length of ballistic target is one of the most important features for target recognition. It can be extracted from ISAR Images. Unlike from the optical image, the length extraction from ISAR image has two difficulties. The first one is that it is hard to get the actual position of scattering centres by the traditional target extraction method. The second one is that the ISAR image’s cross scale is not known because of the target’s complex rotation. Here we propose two methods to solve these problems. Firstly, we use clustering method to get scattering centers. Secondly we propose to get cross scale of the ISAR images by affine registration. Experiments verified that our approach is realisable and has good performance.Defence Science Journal, Vol. 64, No. 5, September 2014, pp.458-463, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.5001

Theory and experiments have shown that electron temperature gradient (ETG) turbulence on the electron gyro-scale, k{sub ⊥}ρ{sub e} ≲ 1, can be responsible for anomalous electron thermal transport in NSTX. Electron scale (high-k) turbulence is diagnosed in NSTX with a high-k microwave scattering system [D. R. Smith et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79, 123501 (2008)]. Here we report on stabilization effects of the electron density gradient on electron-scaledensity fluctuations in a set of neutral beam injection heated H-mode plasmas. We found that the absence of high-k density fluctuations from measurements is correlated with large equilibrium density gradient, which is shown to be consistent with linear stabilization of ETG modes due to the density gradient using the analytical ETG linear threshold in F. Jenko et al. [Phys. Plasmas 8, 4096 (2001)] and linear gyrokinetic simulations with GS2 [M. Kotschenreuther et al., Comput. Phys. Commun. 88, 128 (1995)]. We also found that the observed power of electron-scale turbulence (when it exists) is anti-correlated with the equilibrium density gradient, suggesting density gradient as a nonlinear stabilizing mechanism. Higher density gradients give rise to lower values of the plasma frame frequency, calculated based on the Doppler shift of the measured density fluctuations. Linear gyrokinetic simulations show that higher values of the electron density gradient reduce the value of the real frequency, in agreement with experimental observation. Nonlinear electron-scale gyrokinetic simulations show that high electron density gradient reduces electron heat flux and stiffness, and increases the ETG nonlinear threshold, consistent with experimental observations.

The minimum linear arrangement problem on a network consists of finding the minimum sum of edge lengths that can be achieved when the vertices are arranged linearly. Although there are algorithms to solve this problem on trees in polynomial time, they have remained theoretical and have not been implemented in practical contexts to our knowledge. Here we use one of those algorithms to investigate the growth of this sum as a function of the size of the tree in uniformly random trees. We show that this sum is bounded above by its value in a star tree. We also show that the mean edge length grows logarithmically in optimal linear arrangements, in stark contrast to the linear growth that is expected on optimal arrangements of star trees or on random linear arrangements.

The minimum linear arrangement problem on a network consists of finding the minimum sum of edge lengths that can be achieved when the vertices are arranged linearly. Although there are algorithms to solve this problem on trees in polynomial time, they have remained theoretical and have not been implemented in practical contexts to our knowledge. Here we use one of those algorithms to investigate the growth of this sum as a function of the size of the tree in uniformly random trees. We show that this sum is bounded above by its value in a star tree. We also show that the mean edge length grows logarithmically in optimal linear arrangements, in stark contrast to the linear growth that is expected on optimal arrangements of star trees or on random linear arrangements.

We investigated the dynamics of the passage for a polymer chain through a nanopore in the absence of any external driving force with Weeks-Chandler-Andersen potential in two-dimensional simulations,in particular,focused our attention on the scaling law of the mean translocation time.We found that the effect of hydrodynamic interactions is the major factor in determining the scaling exponents with increasing pore size.The scaling close to N1+2v was observed when the hydrodynamic interactions were screened in the cases of small pore sizes,while the scaling close to N3v was obtained when the hydrodynamic interactions were present in the cases of large pore sizes.

to massive savings in computational cost. The density-based topology optimisation approach combined with a Heaviside projection filter and a stochastic robust formulation is used on various problems, with both periodic and layered microstructures. The presented approach is shown to allow for the topology...

The fully rough form of the law of the wall is commonly used to quantify velocity profiles and associated bed shear stresses in fluvial, aeolian, and coastal environments. A key parameter in this law is the roughness length, z0. Here we propose a predictive formula for z0 that uses the amplitude and slope of each wavelength of microtopography within a discrete-Fourier-transform-based approach. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling is used to quantify the effective z0 valu...

Research into the use of unstructured mesh methods for ocean modelling has been growing steadily in the last few years. One advantage of using unstructured meshes is that one can concentrate resolution where it is needed. In addition, dynamic adaptive mesh optimisation (DAMO) strategies allow resolution to be concentrated when this is required. Despite the advantage that DAMO gives in terms of improving the spatial resolution where and when required, small-scale turbulence in the oceans still requires parameterisation. A two-equation, generic lengthscale (GLS) turbulence model (one equation for turbulent kinetic energy and another for a generic turbulence length-scale quantity) adds this parameterisation and can be used in conjunction with adaptive mesh techniques. In this paper, an implementation of the GLS turbulence parameterisation is detailed in a non-hydrostatic, finite-element, unstructured mesh ocean model, Fluidity-ICOM. The implementation is validated by comparing to both a laboratory-scale experiment and real-world observations, on both fixed and adaptive meshes. The model performs well, matching laboratory and observed data, with resolution being adjusted as necessary by DAMO. Flexibility in the prognostic fields used to construct the error metric used in DAMO is required to ensure best performance. Moreover, the adaptive mesh models perform as well as fixed mesh models in terms of root mean square error to observation or theoretical mixed layer depths, but uses fewer elements and hence has a reduced computational cost.

Based on high-resolution spectra obtained with the MIKE spectrograph on the Magellan telescopes we present detailed elemental abundances for 20 red giant stars in the outer Galactic disk, located at Galactocentric distances between 9 and 13 kpc. The outer disk sample is complemented with samples of red giants from the inner Galactic disk and the solar neighbourhood, analysed using identical methods. For Galactocentric distances beyond 10 kpc, we only find chemical patterns associated with the local thin disk, even for stars far above the Galactic plane. Our results show that the relative densities of the thick and thin disks are dramatically different from the solar neighbourhood, and we therefore suggest that the radial scalelength of the thick disk is much shorter than that of the thin disk. We make a first estimate of the thick disk scale-length of L_thick=2.0 kpc, assuming L_thin=3.8 kpc for the thin disk. We suggest that radial migration may explain the lack of radial age, metallicity, and abundance gra...

The Young’s modulus of cross-linked poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) surface was quantitatively investigated as a function of UV/ozone treatment time across different lengthscales. An AFM was used to probe PDMS surface mechanical properties at the nanometer lengthscale. The Young’s modulus of each sa

Computer simulations (Monte Carlo and numerical integration of differential equations) and theoretical analysis show that the statistical nature of polyaddition, both irreversible and reversible one, affects the way the macromolecules of different lengths are distributed among the small volume nano-reactors (droplets in this study) at any reaction time. The corresponding droplet distributions in respect to the number of reacting chains as well as the chain length distributions depend, for the given reaction time, on rate constants of polyaddition kp and depolymerization kd (reversible process), and the initial conditions: monomer concentration and the number of its molecules in a droplet. As a model reaction, a simple polyaddition process (M)1+(M)1 ⟶ ⟵ (M)2 , (M)i+(M)j ⟶ ⟵ (M)i+j was chosen, enabling to observe both kinetic and thermodynamic (apparent equilibrium constant) effects of a small number of reactant molecules in a droplet. The average rate constant of polymerization is lower than in a macroscopic system, depending on the average number of reactant molecules in a droplet. The apparent equilibrium constants of polymerization Ki j=[(M)i +j] ¯ /([(M)i] ¯ [(M)j] ¯ ) appear to depend on oligomer/polymer sizes as well as on the initial number of monomer molecules in a droplet. The corresponding equations, enabling prediction of the equilibrium conditions, were derived. All the analyzed effects are observed not only for ideally dispersed systems, i.e. with all droplets containing initially the same number of monomer (M)1 molecules, but also when initially the numbers of monomer molecules conform the Poisson distribution, expected for dispersions of reaction mixtures.

In this work, two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic simulations of a variable length gas cell were performed using the open source fluid code OpenFOAM. The gas cell was designed to study controlled injection of electrons into a laser-driven wakefield at the Astra Gemini laser facility. The target consists of two compartments: an accelerator and an injector section connected via an aperture. A sharp transition between the peak and plateau density regions in the injector and accelerator compartments, respectively, was observed in simulations with various inlet pressures. The fluid simulations indicate that the length of the down-ramp connecting the sections depends on the aperture diameter, as does the density drop outside the entrance and the exit cones. Further studies showed, that increasing the inlet pressure leads to turbulence and strong fluctuations in density along the axial profile during target filling, and consequently, is expected to negatively impact the accelerator stability.

This study looks at polarization and its components’ sensitivity to assumptions about equivalence scales, income definition, ethical income distribution parameters, and the income accounting period. A representative sample of Danish individual incomes from 1984 to 2002 is utilised. Results show...... that polarization has increased over time, regardless of the applied measure, when the last part of the period is compared to the first part of the period. Primary causes being increased inequality (alienation) and faster income growth among high incomes relative to those in the middle of the distribution....... Increasing the accounting period confirms the reduction in inequality found for shorter periods, but polarization is virtually unchanged, because income group identification increases. Applying different equivalence scales does not change polarization ranking for different years, but identification ranks...

Full Text Available The elastic properties of bone tissue determine the biomechanical behavior of bone at the organ level. It is now widely accepted that the nanoscale structure of bone plays an important role to determine the elastic properties at the tissue level. Hence, in addition to the mineral density, the structure and organization of the mineral nanoparticles and of the collagen microfibrils appear as potential key factors governing the elasticity. Many studies exist on the role of the organization of collagen microfibril and mineral nanocrystals in strongly remodeled bone. However, there is no direct experimental proof to support the theoretical calculations. Here, we provide such evidence through a novel approach combining several high resolution imaging techniques: scanning acoustic microscopy, quantitative scanning small-Angle X-ray scattering imaging and synchrotron radiation computed microtomography. We find that the periodic modulations of elasticity across osteonal bone are essentially determined by the orientation of the mineral nanoparticles and to a lesser extent only by the particle size and density. Based on the strong correlation between the orientation of the mineral nanoparticles and the collagen molecules, we conclude that the microfibril orientation is the main determinant of the observed undulations of microelastic properties in regions of constant mineralization in osteonal lamellar bone. This multimodal approach could be applied to a much broader range of fibrous biological materials for the purpose of biomimetic technologies.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common, debilitating neurodegenerative disease. Gait disturbances are a frequent cause of disability and impairment for patients with PD. This article provides a brief introduction to PD and describes the gait changes typically seen in patients with this disease. A major focus of this report is an update on the study of the fractal properties of gait in PD, the relationship between this feature of gait and stride length and gait variability, and the effects of different experimental conditions on these three gait properties. Implications of these findings are also briefly described. This update highlights the idea that while stride length, gait variability, and fractal scaling of gait are all impaired in PD, distinct mechanisms likely contribute to and are responsible for the regulation of these disparate gait properties.

A key challenge in achieving control over photocurrent generation by bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells is understanding how the morphology of the active layer impacts charge separation and in particular the separation dynamics within molecularly intermixed donor-acceptor domains versus the dynamics between phase-segregated domains. This paper addresses this issue by studying blends and devices of the amorphous silicon-indacenodithiophene polymer SiIDT-DTBT and the acceptor PCBM. By changing the blend composition, we modulate the size and density of the pure and intermixed domains on the nanometer lengthscale. Laser spectroscopic studies show that these changes in morphology correlate quantitatively with the changes in charge separation dynamics on the nanosecond time scale and with device photocurrent densities. At low fullerene compositions, where only a single, molecularly intermixed polymer-fullerene phase is observed, photoexcitation results in a ∼ 30% charge loss from geminate polaron pair recombination, which is further studied via light intensity experiments showing that the radius of the polaron pairs in the intermixed phase is 3-5 nm. At high fullerene compositions (≥67%), where the intermixed domains are 1-3 nm and the pure fullerene phases reach ∼4 nm, the geminate recombination is suppressed by the reduction of the intermixed phase, making the fullerene domains accessible for electron escape.

We explore the large spatial variation in the relationship between population density and burned area, using continental-scale Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) based on 13 years of satellite-derived burned area maps from the global fire emissions database (GFED) and the human population density from the gridded population of the world (GPW 2005). Significant relationships are observed over 51.5% of the global land area, and the area affected varies from continent to continent: population density has a significant impact on fire over most of Asia and Africa but is important in explaining fire over area in croplands. Overall, the relationship between population density and burned area is non-monotonic: burned area initially increases with population density and then decreases when population density exceeds a threshold. These thresholds vary regionally. Our study contributes to improved understanding of how human activities relate to burned area, and should contribute to a better estimate of atmospheric emissions from biomass burning.

Although coevolutionary theory predicts that evolutionary interactions between species are spatially hierarchical, few studies have examined coevolutionary processes at multiple spatial scales. In an antagonistic system involving a plant, the Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica), and its obligate seed predator, the camellia weevil (Curculio camelliae), I elucidated the local adaptation of a camellia defensive armament (pericarp thickness) and a weevil offensive armament (rostrum length) within Yakushima Island (ca. 30 km in diameter), compared to a larger-scale variation in those traits throughout Japan reported in previous studies. Results showed that camellia pericarp thickness and weevil rostrum length vary remarkably within several kilometers on this island. In addition, geographic variation in each camellia and weevil armament was best explained by the armament size of the sympatric participant than by abiotic environmental heterogeneity. However, I also found that camellia pericarp thickness significantly decreased in cool-temperate (i.e., highland) areas, suggesting the contributions of climate on the spatial structuring of the weevil-camellia interaction. Interestingly, relatively thin pericarps occurred not only in the highlands but also in some low-altitude areas, indicating that other factors such as nonrandom or asymmetric gene flow play important roles in the metapopulation processes of interspecific interactions at small spatial scales.

Contact rates and patterns among individuals in a geographic area drive transmission of directly-transmitted pathogens, making it essential to understand and estimate contacts for simulation of disease dynamics. Under the uniform mixing assumption, one of two mechanisms is typically used to describe the relation between contact rate and population density: density-dependent or frequency-dependent. Based on existing evidence of population threshold and human mobility patterns, we formulated a spatial contact model to describe the appropriate form of transmission with initial growth at low density and saturation at higher density. We show that the two mechanisms are extreme cases that do not capture real population movement across all scales. Empirical data of human and wildlife diseases indicate that a nonlinear function may work better when looking at the full spectrum of densities. This estimation can be applied to large areas with population mixing in general activities. For crowds with unusually large densities (e.g., transportation terminals, stadiums, or mass gatherings), the lack of organized social contact structure deviates the physical contacts towards a special case of the spatial contact model - the dynamics of kinetic gas molecule collision. In this case, an ideal gas model with van der Waals correction fits well; existing movement observation data and the contact rate between individuals is estimated using kinetic theory. A complete picture of contact rate scaling with population density may help clarify the definition of transmission rates in heterogeneous, large-scale spatial systems.

The principle of causality requires that a pure power-law spectrum of cosmological density perturbations possess a super-Hubble suppression scale. We search for evidence of such suppression by performing a three parameter likelihood analysis of the COBE-DMR 4-year sky maps with respect to the amplitude, the spectral index, and the suppression scale. It is found that all suppression scales larger than c/H0 are consistent with the data, but that scales of order c/H0 are slightly preferred, at roughly the one-sigma level. Super-Hubble density fluctuations on very large scales (>>c/H0) can only be explained in the context of present theory by a de Sitter expansion phase, whereas those that are ``small'' (~c/H0) can also be explained within the standard hot big-bang model. Density perturbations originating after any conceivable de Sitter expansion phase or during non-isentropic de Sitter expansion have natural kinematic constraints which could explain a small super-Hubble suppression scale. Standard inflationary cosmology, which is characterized by isentropic de Sitter expansion, generically predicts that the particle horizon should be much larger than the present-day Hubble radius, c/H0. For such scenarios, a small super-Hubble suppression scale would require the duration of the inflation epoch to be fairly short. Suppression scales smaller than c/H0 are strongly excluded by the COBE data.

This thesis describes investigations into the mechanical and thermal characteristics of amorphous polymeric materials by structural changes on the molecular and the microscopic scale. On the molecular scale, the structure of a cross-linked polymeric material is controlled by changes in the molecular weight between cross-links, cross-link functionality, and chain stiffness. With control of the network structure, an expansive range of mechanical and thermal characteristics is possible. These properties range from intrinsic properties, such as the glass transition temperature, to performance properties, such as impact behavior. Relationships between the network structure and measured properties are established by the use of a variety of theories from rubber elasticity to free volume. Relationships are also established between the various measured properties through solid and fracture mechanics. The introduction of soft rubbery particles on the microscopic scale into a glassy polymeric matrix is commonly employed to create a tougher material. Despite the prevalent use, the mechanisms and sequence of mechanisms of toughening are poorly understood. The mechanisms and sequence of mechanisms are elucidated in this investigation through the use of unique mechanical tests and materials with favorable properties. The unique mechanical tests in this investigation include tensile dilatometry and a multi-axial stress state test. The multi-axial stress state test, which allows independent control of the dilational and deviatoric stresses of a material between uniaxial compression and equal biaxial tension, consists of a uniaxially loaded and pressurized thin walled hollow cylinder. The materials include liquid rubber modified epoxies, voided epoxies, and core-shell rubber modified polyvinylchloride. The voided epoxy material separates the matrix contributions from those of the rubbery phase, while the core-shell rubber modified polyvinylchloride provides optical verification of

We present the results of a search for unknown interactions that couple to mass between an optically levitated microsphere and a gold-coated silicon cantilever. The scale and geometry of the apparatus enables a search for new forces that appear at distances below 100 $\\mu$m and which would have evaded previous searches due to screening mechanisms. The data are consistent with electrostatic backgrounds and place upper limits on the strength of new interactions at 5.6 \\times 10^4$ in the region of parameter space where the self-coupling $\\Lambda \\gtrsim 5$ meV and the microspheres are not fully screened.

The actuator line model (ALM) is a commonly used method to represent lifting surfaces such as wind turbine blades within Large-Eddy Simulations (LES). In ALM the lift and drag forces are replaced by an imposed body force which is typically smoothed over several grid points using a Gaussian kernel with some prescribed smoothing width $\\epsilon$. To date, the choice of $\\epsilon$ has most often been based on numerical considerations mostly related to the grid spacing used in LES. However, especially for finely resolved LES with grid spacings on the order or smaller than the chord-length of the blade, the best choice of $\\epsilon$ is not known. Focusing first on the lift force, here we find $\\epsilon$ and the force center location that minimize the square difference between the velocity fields obtained from solving 2D potential flow over Joukowski airfoils and solving the Euler equations including the imposed body force. The latter solution is found for the linearized problem, and is valid for small angles of at...

Lobate scarps are straight to curvilinear positive-relief landforms that occur on all terrestrial bodies [e.g., 1-3]. They are the surface manifestation of thrust faults that cut through and offset the upper part of the crust. Fault scarps on planetary surfaces provide the opportunity to study the growth of faults under a wide range of environmental conditions (e.g., gravity, temperature, pore pressure) [4]. We studied four lunar thrust-fault scarps (Simpelius-1, Morozov (S1), Fowler, Racah X-1) ranging in length from 1.3 km to 15.4 km [5] and found that their maximum total displacements are linearly correlated with length over one order of magnitude. We propose that during the progressive accumulation of slip, lunar faults propagate laterally and increase in length. On the basis of our measurements, the ratio of maximum displacement, D, to fault length, L, ranges from 0.017 to 0.028 with a mean value of 0.023 (or 2.3%). This is an order of magnitude higher than the value of 0.1% derived by theoretical considerations [4], and about twice as large as the value of 0.012-0.013 estimated by [6,7]. Our results, in addition to recently published findings for other lunar scarps [2,8], indicate that the D/L ratios of lunar thrust faults are similar to those of faults on Mercury and Mars (e.g., 1, 9-11], and almost as high as the average D/L ratio of 3% for faults on Earth [16,23]. Three of the investigated thrust fault scarps (Simpelius-1, Morozov (S1), Fowler) are uphill-facing scarps generated by slip on faults that dip in the same direction as the local topography. Thrust faults with such a geometry are common ( 60% of 97 studied scarps) on the Moon [e.g., 2,5,7]. To test our hypothesis that the surface topography plays an important role in the formation of uphill-facing fault scarps by controlling the vertical load on a fault plane, we simulated thrust faulting and its relation to topography with two-dimensional finite-element models using the commercial code ABAQUS

We report experimental results and simulations showing efficient laser energy coupling into plasmas at conditions relevant to the magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) concept. In MagLIF, to limit convergence and increase the hydrodynamic stability of the implosion, the fuel must be efficiently preheated. To determine the efficiency and physics of preheating by a laser, an Ar plasma with ne/nc r i t˜0.04 is irradiated by a multi-ns, multi-kJ, 0.35-μm, phase-plate-smoothed laser at spot-averaged intensities ranging from 1.0 ×1014 to 2.5 ×1014W /c m2 and pulse widths from 2 to 10 ns. Time-resolved x-ray images of the laser-heated plasma are compared to two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations that show agreement with the propagating emission front, a comparison that constrains laser energy deposition to the plasma. The experiments show that long-pulse, modest-intensity (I =1.5 ×1014W /c m2 ) beams can efficiently couple energy (˜82 % of the incident energy) to MagLIF-relevant long-length (9.5 mm) underdense plasmas. The demonstrated heating efficiency is significantly higher than is thought to have been achieved in early integrated MagLIF experiments [A. B. Sefkow et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 072711 (2014), 10.1063/1.4890298].

Spatial pattern and the correlation of different soil and plant parameters were examined in a green bean field experiment carried out at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, Italy. The experiment aimed to evaluate the role of local processes of salt accumulation and transport which mainly influences the evapotranspiration (and thus the root uptake) processes under different water salinity levels. The experiment consisted of three transects of 30m length and 4.2 m width, irrigated with three different salinity levels (1dSm-1, 3dSm-1, 6dSm-1). Soil measurements (electrical conductivity and soil water content) were monitored along transects in 24 sites, 1 m apart by using TDR probes and Diviner 2000. Water storage measured by TDR and Diviner sensor were coupled for calculating directly the evapotranspiration fluxes along the whole soil profile under the different salinity levels imposed during the experiment. In the same sites, crop monitoring involved measurements of Leaf Area Index (LAI), Osmotic Potential (OP), Leaf Water Potential (LWP), and Root lengthDensity (RlD). Soil and plant properties were analyzed by classical statistics, geostatistics methods and spectral analysis. Results indicated moderate to large spatial variability across the field for soil and plant parameters under all salinity treatments. Furthermore, cross-semivariograms exhibited a strong positive spatial interdependence between electrical conductivity of soil solution ECw with ET and RlD in transect treated with 3dSm-1 as well as with LAI in transect treated with 6dSm-1 at all 24 monitoring sites. Spectral analysis enabled to identify the observation window to sample the soil salinity information responsible for a given plant response (ET, OP, RlD). It is also allowed a clear identification of the spatial scale at which the soil water salinity level and distribution and the crop response in terms of actual evapotranspiration ET, RlD and OP, are actually correlated. Additionally

Biological membranes exhibit long-range spatial structure in both chemical composition and geometric shape, which gives rise to remarkable physical phenomena and important biological functions. Continuum models that describe these effects play an important role in our understanding of membrane biophysics at large lengthscales. We review the mathematical framework used to describe both composition and shape degrees of freedom, and present best practices to implement such models in a computer simulation. We discuss in detail two applications of continuum models of cell membranes: the formation of microemulsion and modulated phases, and the effect of membrane-mediated interactions on the assembly of membrane proteins.

A problem of cell-to-cell communication by diffusible ligands is analyzed for the case when cells are distributed in three dimensions and diffusible ligands are secreted by cells and reversibly bind to cell surface receptors. Following its binding to a receptor, the ligand can either dissociate and be released back in the medium or be absorbed by the cell in a process that is called internalization. Using an effective medium approximation, we derive analytical expressions that characterize the time and lengthscales associated with the ligand trajectories leading to internalization. We discuss the applicability of our approximation and illustrate the application of our results to a specific cellular system.

The main objective of this research is to address two important but unresolved problems: (1) the measurement of vertical and transverse lengthscales via space correlations for all Reynolds stress components and velocity-temperature correlations, both in the free stream and within the boundary layer using the existing triple and quad-wire probes; and (2) to relate the character of the free stream turbulence to the character of the turbulence within the boundary layer in order to determine the effect on surface heat transfer.

A hybrid molecular-dynamics (MD) and finite-element simulation approach is used to study stress distributions in silicon/silicon-nitride nanopixels. The hybrid approach provides atomistic description near the interface and continuum description deep into the substrate, increasing the accessible lengthscales and greatly reducing the computational cost. The results of the hybrid simulation are in good agreement with full multimillion-atom MD simulations: atomic structures at the lattice-mismatched interface between amorphous silicon nitride and silicon induce inhomogeneous stress patterns in the substrate that cannot be reproduced by a continuum approach alone.

The process of the pulverized coal combustion in tangential firing boiler has prominent significance on improving boiler operation efficiency and reducing NO{sub X} emission. This paper aims at researching complex turbulent vortex coherent structure formed by the four corners jets in the burner zone, a cold experimental model of tangential firing boiler has been built. And by employing spatial correlation analysis method and PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) technique, the law of Vortex scale distribution on the three typical horizontal layers of the model based on the turbulent Integral LengthScale (ILS) has been researched. According to the correlation analysis of ILS and the temporal average velocity, it can be seen that the turbulent vortex scale distribution in the burner zone of the model is affected by both jet velocity and the position of wind layers, and is not linear with the variation of jet velocity. The vortex scale distribution of the upper primary air is significantly different from the others. Therefore, studying the ILS of turbulent vortex integral scale is instructive to high efficiency cleaning combustion of pulverized coal in theory.

Full Text Available While effects of thinning and natural disturbances on stand density play a central role for forest growth, their representation in large-scale studies is restricted by both model and data availability. Here a forest growth model was combined with a newly developed generic thinning model to estimate stand density and site productivity based on widely available inventory data (tree species, age class, volume, and increment. The combined model successfully coupled biomass, increment, and stand closure (=stand density/self-thinning limited stand density, as indicated by cross-validation against European-wide inventory data. The improvement in model performance attained by including variable stand closure among age cohorts compared to a fixed closure suggests that stand closure is an important parameter for accurate forest growth modeling also at large scales.

Gully erosion is a major cause of land degradation in many regions, due to its negative impacts on catchment hydrology, its associated losses of land and damage to infrastructure, as well as its often major contributions to catchment sediment yields. Mitigation and prevention of gully erosion requires a good knowledge of its spatial patterns and controlling factors. However, our ability to simulate or predict this process remains currently very limited. This is especially the case for the regional scale. Whereas detailed case studies have provided important insights into the drivers of gully erosion at local scales, these findings are often difficult to upscale to larger regions. Here we utilized a simple and cheap method to predict patterns of gully density at the sub-continental scale. By means of a random sampling procedure, we mapped gully densities for over sixty study sites across the Horn of Africa, using freely available Google Earth imagery. Next, we statistically analyzed which factors best explained the observed variation in mapped gully density. Based on these findings, we constructed a multiple regression model that simulates gully density, based on topography (average slope), soil characteristics (percentage silt) and land use (NDVI-value). Although our model could benefit from further refinement, it succeeds already fairly well in simulating the patterns of gully density at sub-continental scales. Over 75% of the predicted gully densities differ less than 5% from the observed gully density, while over 90% of the predictions deviate less than 10%. Exploration of our results further showed that this methodology may be highly useful to quantify total gully erosion rates at regional and continental scales as well as the contribution of gully erosion to catchment sediment yields.

Applicability of nonlocal models to nano-beams is discussed in terms of the Eringen's nonlocal Euler-Bernoulli (EB) beam model. In literature, most work has taken the axial coordinate derivative in the Laplacian operator presented in nonlocal elasticity. This causes that the non-locality always makes the beam soften as compared to the local counterpart. In this paper, the thickness scale effect is solely considered to investigate if the nonlocal model can simulate stiffening effect. Taking the thickness derivative in the Laplacian operator leads to the presence of a surface stress state. The governing equation derived is compared to that of the EB model with the surface stress. The results obtained reveal that the nonlocality tends to decrease the bending moment stiffness whereas to increase the bending rigidity in the governing equation. This tendency also depends on the surface conditions.

Porous coordination polymers (PCPs) are an intriguing class of molecular-based materials because of the designability of framework scaffolds, pore sizes and pore surface functionalities. Besides the structural designability at the molecular scale, the structuring of PCPs into mesoscopic/macroscopic morphologies has attracted much attention due to the significance for the practical applications. The structuring of PCPs at the mesoscopic/macroscopic scale has been so far demonstrated by the spatial localization of coordination reactions on the surface of templates or at the phase boundaries. However, these methodologies have never been applied to the fabrication of solid-solution or multivariate metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), in which multiple components are homogeneously mixed. Herein, we demonstrate the structuring of a box-type superstructure comprising of a solid-solution PCP by integrating a bidirectional diffusion of multiple organic ligands into molecular assembly. The parent crystals of [Zn2(ndc)2(bpy)]n were placed in the DMF solution of additional organic component of H2bdc, and the temperature was rapidly elevated up to 80 °C (ndc = 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylate, bpy = 4,4'-bipyridyl, bdc = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate). The dissolution of the parent crystals induced the outward diffusion of components; contrariwise, the accumulation of the other organic ligand of H2bdc induced the inward diffusion toward the surface of the parent crystals. This bidirectional diffusion of multiple components spatially localized the recrystallization at the surface of cuboid parent crystals; therefore, the nanocrystals of a solid-solution PCP ([Zn2(bdc)1.5(ndc)0.5(bpy)]n) were organized into a mesoscopic box superstructure. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the box superstructures enhanced the mass transfer kinetics for the separation of hydrocarbons.

Dynamical quantities e.g. diffusivity and relaxation time for some glass-formers may depend on density and temperature through a specific combination, rather than independently, allowing the representation of data over ranges of density and temperature as a function of a single scaling variable...... of the activation free energy in the Adam-Gibbs relation, is consistent with the exponent values obtained by other means....

Numerical computation based on a zero-dimensional thin-plasma-shell model has been carried out to study the scaling of the maximum kinetic energy per unit length, the current amplitude and the compression ratio for the imploding Z-pinch liner driven by peaked current pulses. A dimensionless scaling constant of 0.9 with an error less than 10% is extracted at the optimal choice of the current and liner parameters. Deviation of the chosen experimental parameter from the optimal exerts a minor influence on the kinetic energy for wider-shaped and slower-decaying pulses, but the influence becomes significant for narrower-shaped and faster-decaying pulses. The computation is in reasonable agreement with experimental data from the Z, Saturn, Blackjack 5 and Qiangguang-I liners.

Grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities. Loss of native habitats may negatively impact important small mammal prey species. Little information, however, is available on the impact of habitat variability on density of small mammal prey species at broad spatial scales. We examined the relationship between small mammal density and remotely-sensed environmental covariates in shrub-steppe and grassland ecosystems in Wyoming, USA. We sampled four sciurid and leporid species groups using line transect methods, and used hierarchical distance-sampling to model density in response to variation in vegetation, climate, topographic, and anthropogenic variables, while accounting for variation in detection probability. We created spatial predictions of each species' density and distribution. Sciurid and leporid species exhibited mixed responses to vegetation, such that changes to native habitat will likely affect prey species differently. Density of white-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys leucurus), Wyoming ground squirrels (Urocitellus elegans), and leporids correlated negatively with proportion of shrub or sagebrush cover and positively with herbaceous cover or bare ground, whereas least chipmunks showed a positive correlation with shrub cover and a negative correlation with herbaceous cover. Spatial predictions from our models provide a landscape-scale metric of above-ground prey density, which will facilitate the development of conservation plans for these taxa and their predators at spatial scales relevant to management.

We describe the singular value decomposition (SVD) of yeast genome-scale mRNA lengths distribution data measured by DNA microarrays. SVD uncovers in the mRNA abundance levels data matrix of genes x arrays, i.e., electrophoretic gel migration lengths or mRNA lengths, mathematically unique decorrelated and decoupled "eigengenes." The eigengenes are the eigenvectors of the arrays x arrays correlation matrix, with the corresponding series of eigenvalues proportional to the series of the "fractions of eigen abundance." Each fraction of eigen abundance indicates the significance of the corresponding eigengene relative to all others. We show that the eigengenes fit "asymmetric Hermite functions," a generalization of the eigenfunctions of the quantum harmonic oscillator and the integral transform which kernel is a generalized coherent state. The fractions of eigen abundance fit a geometric series as do the eigenvalues of the integral transform which kernel is a generalized coherent state. The "asymmetric generalized coherent state" models the measured data, where the profiles of mRNA abundance levels of most genes as well as the distribution of the peaks of these profiles fit asymmetric Gaussians. We hypothesize that the asymmetry in the distribution of the peaks of the profiles is due to two competing evolutionary forces. We show that the asymmetry in the profiles of the genes might be due to a previously unknown asymmetry in the gel electrophoresis thermal broadening of a moving, rather than a stationary, band of RNA molecules.

A novel statistical analysis, which augments conventional interpretation of deep seismic reflection/refraction data, is applied to the DOBRE 2000/2001 reflection profile. The goal is to improve delineation of the lithosphere in terms of lithotectonic units and to compare these to existing interpretations. After a successful validation of the method using synthetic data, stochastic parameters estimated from windowed average lateral autocorrelations in the DOBRE data are compiled in a two-dimensional profile of von Karman-type causative reflectivity. These estimates in terms of lateral correlation lengths and power law exponents are accompanied by associated uncertainties. Given its low uncertainties, the lateral correlation length ax turns out to be a robust delineator. The profile of ax reveals systematic spatial variations in the lithospheric fabric below the Donbas Fold Belt. As in earlier interpretations based upon conventional processing of reflection/refraction data, both the sedimentary basin and Moho discontinuity stand out clearly, as well as a region indicating massive vertical intrusion in the crust from upper mantle sills and ultramafic underplating of the lower crust. Notable differences with conventional interpretations include the number and extent of supra-Moho rift pillow structures, the lack of imaging a crust-cutting dislocation feature and a laterally disturbed uppermost mantle. Von Karman lateral correlation length provides new independent information at a scale between velocity models from wide-angle reflection/refraction data and line drawings from near vertical reflections and provides new insights and understanding of lithospheric evolution.

In the present work, we analyze three commonly used methods to determine the edge of pressure gradient turbulent boundary layers: two based on composite profiles, the one by Chauhan et al. ["Criteria for assessing experiments in zero pressure gradient boundary layers," Fluid Dyn. Res. 41, 021404 (2009)] and the one by Nickels ["Inner scaling for wall-bounded flows subject to large pressure gradients," J. Fluid Mech. 521, 217-239 (2004)], and the other one based on the condition of vanishing mean velocity gradient. Additionally, a new method is introduced based on the diagnostic plot concept by Alfredsson et al. ["A new scaling for the streamwise turbulence intensity in wall-bounded turbulent flows and what it tells us about the `outer' peak," Phys. Fluids 23, 041702 (2011)]. The boundary layers developing over the suction and pressure sides of a NACA4412 wing section, extracted from a direct numerical simulation at chord Reynolds number Rec = 400 000, are used as the test case, besides other numerical and experimental data from favorable, zero, and adverse pressure-gradient flat-plate turbulent boundary layers. We find that all the methods produce robust results with mild or moderate pressure gradients, although the composite-profile techniques require data preparation, including initial estimations of fitting parameters and data truncation. Stronger pressure gradients (with a Rotta-Clauser pressure-gradient parameter β larger than around 7) lead to inconsistent results in all the techniques except the diagnostic plot. This method also has the advantage of providing an objective way of defining the point where the mean streamwise velocity is 99% of the edge velocity and shows consistent results in a wide range of pressure gradient conditions, as well as flow histories. Collapse of intermittency factors obtained from a wide range of pressure-gradient and Re conditions on the wing further highlights the robustness of the diagnostic plot method to determine the

In this work, an optical modeling study on electron scattering mechanisms in plasma-deposited ZnO layers is presented. Because various applications of ZnO films pose a limit on the electron carrier density due to its effect on the film transmittance, higher electron mobility values are generally preferred instead. Hence, insights into the electron scattering contributions affecting the carrier mobility are required. In optical models, the Drude oscillator is adopted to represent the free-electron contribution and the obtained optical mobility can be then correlated with the macroscopic material properties. However, the influence of scattering phenomena on the optical mobility depends on the considered range of photon energy. For example, the grain-boundary scattering is generally not probed by means of optical measurements and the ionized-impurity scattering contribution decreases toward higher photon energies. To understand this frequency dependence and quantify contributions from different scattering phenomena to the mobility, several case studies were analyzed in this work by means of spectroscopic ellipsometry and Fourier transform infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The obtained electrical parameters were compared to the results inferred by Hall measurements. For intrinsic ZnO (i-ZnO), the in-grain mobility was obtained by fitting reflection data with a normal Drude model in the IR range. For Al-doped ZnO (Al:ZnO), besides a normal Drude fit in the IR range, an Extended Drude fit in the UV-vis range could be used to obtain the in-grain mobility. Scattering mechanisms for a thickness series of Al:ZnO films were discerned using the more intuitive parameter “scattering frequency” instead of the parameter “mobility”. The interaction distance concept was introduced to give a physical interpretation to the frequency dependence of the scattering frequency. This physical interpretation furthermore allows the prediction of which Drude models can be used in a specific

Spherical Cu nanocavity surfaces are synthesized to examine the individual role of contact angles in connecting lateral Rayleigh-Taylor wavelength to vertical Kevin-Helmholtz wavelength on hydrodynamic instability for the onset of pool boiling Critical Heat Flux (CHF). Solid and porous Cu pillar surfaces are sintered to investigate the individual role of pillar structure pitch at millimeter scale, named as module wavelength, on hydrodynamic instability at CHF. Last, spherical Cu nanocavities are coated on the porous Cu pillars to create a multiscale Cu structure, which is studied to examine the collective role and relative significance of contact angles and module wavelength on hydrodynamic instability at CHF, and the results indicate that module wavelength plays the dominant role on hydrodynamic instability at CHF when the height of surface structures is equal or above ¼ Kelvin-Helmholtz wavelength. Pool boiling Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) enhancements on spherical Cu nanocavity surfaces, solid and porous Cu pillar surfaces, and the integrated multiscale structure have been investigated, too. The experimental results reveal that the nanostructures and porous pillar structures can be combined together to achieve even higher enhancement of HTC than that of individual structures. PMID:27841322

Spherical Cu nanocavity surfaces are synthesized to examine the individual role of contact angles in connecting lateral Rayleigh-Taylor wavelength to vertical Kevin-Helmholtz wavelength on hydrodynamic instability for the onset of pool boiling Critical Heat Flux (CHF). Solid and porous Cu pillar surfaces are sintered to investigate the individual role of pillar structure pitch at millimeter scale, named as module wavelength, on hydrodynamic instability at CHF. Last, spherical Cu nanocavities are coated on the porous Cu pillars to create a multiscale Cu structure, which is studied to examine the collective role and relative significance of contact angles and module wavelength on hydrodynamic instability at CHF, and the results indicate that module wavelength plays the dominant role on hydrodynamic instability at CHF when the height of surface structures is equal or above ¼ Kelvin-Helmholtz wavelength. Pool boiling Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) enhancements on spherical Cu nanocavity surfaces, solid and porous Cu pillar surfaces, and the integrated multiscale structure have been investigated, too. The experimental results reveal that the nanostructures and porous pillar structures can be combined together to achieve even higher enhancement of HTC than that of individual structures.

A new method of decomposing the total velocity in boundary layers, which removes the influence of instantaneous boundary layer thickness variations to the fluctuating velocity component, is proposed. The recent proposition of the quiescent core of turbulent channel flow by Kwon et al. (J. Fluid Mech., 751, 228 (2014)) permits us to apply the same decomposition to channel flows where the quiescent core is analogous to the free-stream. Using this decomposition, it is observed that the majority of the large-scale streamwise velocity fluctuation within the intermittent region is attributed to the oscillation of the turbulent/non-turbulent interface or the quiescent core. It suggests that the quiescent core and the free-stream play a similar role and the flow nearer to the wall in both flows is more similar than previously thought while the different characteristics of the free-stream and the quiescent core account for the differences in the outer region of two flows. These findings re-affirm the analogy between the quiescent core and the free-stream, which could potentially lead to the unified conceptual model between internal and external flows. This work is financially supported by the Australian Research Council and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.

In collisionless plasmas such as the solar wind, the coupling between plasma constituents and the embedded magnetic field occurs on various temporal and spatial scales, and is primarily responsible for the transfer of energy between waves and particles. Recently, it was shown that the transfer of energy between solar wind plasma particles and waves is governed by a new and unique relationship: the ratio between the magnetosonic energy and the plasma frequency is constant, E ms/ω pl ˜ ℏ*. This paper examines the variability and substantial departure of this ratio from ℏ* observed at ˜1 au, which is caused by a dispersion of fast magnetosonic (FMS) waves. In contrast to the efficiently transferred energy in the fast solar wind, the lower efficiency of the slow solar wind can be caused by this dispersion, whose relation and characteristics are derived and studied. In summary, we show that (i) the ratio E ms/ω pl transitions continuously from the slow to the fast solar wind, tending toward the constant ℏ* (ii) the transition is more efficient for larger thermal, Alfvén, or FMS speeds; (iii) the fast solar wind is almost dispersionless, characterized by quasi-constant values of the FMS speed, while the slow wind is subject to dispersion that is less effective for larger wind or magnetosonic speeds; and (iv) the constant ℏ* is estimated with the best known precision, ℏ* ≈ (1.160 ± 0.083) × 10-22 Js.

Narrow laser beams directed from aircraft may at times pass through the exhaust plume of the engines and potentially degrade some of the laser beam characteristics. This paper reports on controlled studies of laser beam deviation arising from propagation through turbulent hot gases, in a well-characterized laboratory burner, with conditions of relevance to aircraft engine exhaust plumes. The impact of the temperature, laser wavelength, and turbulence lengthscale on the beam deviation has been investigated. It was found that the laser beam displacement increases with the turbulent integral lengthscale. The effect of temperature on the laser beam angular deviation, σ, using two different laser wavelengths, namely 4.67 μm and 632.8 nm, was recorded. It was found that the beam deviation for both wavelengths may be semiempirically modeled using a single function of the form, σ=a(b+(1/T)(2))(-1), with two parameters only, a and b, where σ is in microradians and T is the temperature in °C.

In this work, we demonstrate the use of self-assembled thin films of the cylinder-forming block copolymer poly(4-tert-butylstyrene-block-2-vinylpyridine) to pattern high density features at the 10 nm lengthscale. This material's large interaction parameter facilitates pattern formation in single-digit nanometer dimensions. This block copolymer's accessible order-disorder transition temperature allows thermal annealing to drive the assembly of ordered 2-vinylpyridine cylinders that can be selectively complexed with the organometallic precursor trimethylaluminum. This unique chemistry converts organic 2-vinylpyridine cylinders into alumina nanowires with diameters ranging from 8 to 11 nm, depending on the copolymer molecular weight. Graphoepitaxy of this block copolymer aligns and registers sub-12 nm diameter nanowires to larger-scale rectangular, curved, and circular features patterned by optical lithography. The alumina nanowires function as a robust hard mask to withstand the conditions required for patterning the underlying silicon by plasma etching. We conclude with a discussion of some of the challenges that arise with using block copolymers for patterning at sub-10 nm feature sizes.In this work, we demonstrate the use of self-assembled thin films of the cylinder-forming block copolymer poly(4-tert-butylstyrene-block-2-vinylpyridine) to pattern high density features at the 10 nm lengthscale. This material's large interaction parameter facilitates pattern formation in single-digit nanometer dimensions. This block copolymer's accessible order-disorder transition temperature allows thermal annealing to drive the assembly of ordered 2-vinylpyridine cylinders that can be selectively complexed with the organometallic precursor trimethylaluminum. This unique chemistry converts organic 2-vinylpyridine cylinders into alumina nanowires with diameters ranging from 8 to 11 nm, depending on the copolymer molecular weight. Graphoepitaxy of this block copolymer aligns and

Fundamental thermodynamic concepts and an earlier elastic solid-state point defect model are employed to formulate an analytical second-order olynomial function describing the densityscaling of the diffusion coefficient in viscous liquids. The scaling exponent is correlated, within the approximations made in the present approach, with the pressure derivative of the isothermal bulk modulus. Our findings are compared with computer simulation results.

1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Large ScaleDensity Estimation of Blue and Fin Whales ...Utilizing Sparse Array Data to Develop and Implement a New Method for Estimating Blue and Fin Whale Density Len Thomas & Danielle Harris Centre...to develop and implement a new method for estimating blue and fin whale density that is effective over large spatial scales and is designed to cope

In soil-mantled steeplands, soil motions associated with creep, ravel, rain splash, soil slips, tree throw, and rodent activity are patchy and intermittent and involve widely varying travel distances. To describe the collective effect of these motions, we formulate a nonlocal expression for the soil flux. This probabilistic formulation involves upslope and downslope convolutions of land surface geometry to characterize motions in both directions, notably accommodating the bidirectional dispersal of material on gentle slopes as well as mostly downslope dispersal on steeper slopes, and it distinguishes between the mobilization of soil material and the effect of surface slope in giving a downslope bias to the dispersal of mobilized material. The formulation separates dispersal associated with intermittent surface motions from the slower bulk behavior associated with small-scale bioturbation and similar dilational processes operating mostly within the soil column. With a uniform rate of mobilization of soil material, the nearly parabolic form of a hillslope profile at steady state resembles a diffusive behavior. With a slope-dependent rate of mobilization, the steady state hillslope profile takes on a nonparabolic form where land surface elevation varies with downslope distance x as xa with a ˜ 3/2, consistent with field observations and where the flux increases nonlinearly with increasing slope. The convolution description of the soil flux, when substituted into a suitable expression of conservation, yields a nonlinear Fokker-Planck equation and can be mapped to discrete particle models of hillslope behavior and descriptions of soil-grain transport by rain splash as a stochastic advection-dispersion process.

Postoperative tunnel enlargement has been frequently reported after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Interference screw, as a surgical implant in ACL reconstruction, may influence natural loading transmission and contribute to tunnel enlargement. The aims of this study are (1) to quantify the alteration of strain energy den sity (SED) distribution after the anatomic single-bundle ACL reconstruction; and (2) to characterize the influence of screw length and diameter on the degree of the SED alteration. A validated finite element model of human knee joint was used. The screw length ranging from 20 to 30mm with screw diameter ranging from 7 to 9 mm were investigated. In the post-operative knee, the SED increased steeply at the extra-articular tunnel aperture under compressive and complex loadings, whereas the SED decreased beneath the screw shaft and nearby the intra-articular tunnel aperture. Increasing the screw length could lower the SED deprivation in the proximal part of the bone tunnel; whereas increasing either screw length or diameter could aggravate the SED deprivation in the distal part of the bone tunnel. Decreasing the elastic modulus of the screw could lower the bone SED deprivation around the screw. In consideration of both graft stability and SED alteration, a biodegradable interference screw with a long length is recommended, which could provide a beneficial mechanical environment at the distal part of the tunnel, and meanwhile decrease the bone-graft motion and synovial fluid propagation at the proximal part of the tunnel. These findings together with the clinical and histological factors could help to improve surgical outcome, and serve as a preliminary knowledge for the following study of biodegradable interference screw. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

The objective of this work is to analyze individual and combined effects of biotic and abiotic factors of the length growth of inmature stages of B. fernandezae Gallardo. The research was carried on under specified and constant laboratory conditions. The obtained results showed that the density was the main controlling factor upon the individual growth, being less important, in this sense, the alimentary offer arranged during the temporal extension of the experiments. Besides, no differences...

Grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities. Loss of native habitats may negatively impact important small mammal prey species. Little information, however, is available on the impact of habitat variability on density of small mammal prey species at broad spatial scales. We examined the relationship between small mammal...

Despite recent advances in the development of satellite sensors for monitoring precipitation at high spatial and temporal resolutions, the assessment of rainfall climatology still relies strongly on ground-station measurements. The Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) is one of the most popular stations database available for the international community. Nevertheless, the spatial distribution of these stations is not always homogeneous and the record length largely varies for each sta...

Full Text Available During many decades, continuous device performance improvement has been made possible only through device scaling. But presently, due to aggressive scaling at the sub-micron or nanometer region, the conventional planner silicon technology is suffering from the fundamental physical limits. Such imposed limits on further downscaling of silicon planner technology have lead to alternative device technology like Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI technology. Due-to some of its inherent advantages, the Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI technology has reduced the Short-channel-effects (SCEs and thus increased transistor scalability. Till now, intense research interests have been paid in practical fabrication and theoretical modeling of SOI MOSFETs but a little attention has been paid to understand the circuit level performance improvement with nano-scale SOI MOSFETs. The circuit level performance analysis of SOI MOSFET is highly essential to understand the impact of SOI technology on next level VLSI circuit and chip design and for doing so device compact models are high on demand. In such scenario, under present research, a physics based compact device model of SOI MOSFET has been developed. At the first phase of the compact model development, a physics based threshold voltage model has been developed by solving 2-D Poisson’s equation at the channel region and at the second phase, a current-voltage model has been developed with drift-diffusion analysis. Different SCEs, valid at nano-scale, are effectively incorporated in threshold voltage and Current-Voltage model. At the third phase, using the compact model, the Voltage Transfer Characteristics (VTC for a nano-scale SOI CMOS inverter has been derived with graphical analysis. The impacts of different device parameters e.g.; channel length and channel doping concentration on VTC has been investigated through simulation and the results have been analyzed.

The past few decades have seen a resurgence of interest in biological allometry. Specifically, a number of recent studies has suggested a -4/3 invariant scaling relationship between mass and density that is universally valid for tree-dominated communities, regardless of their phyletic affiliation or habitat. In the present study, we test this scaling relationship using a comprehensive forest biomass database, including 1 266 plots of six biomes and 17 forest types across China. The present study shows that the scaling exponent of the massdensity relationship varies across different tree-dominated communities and habitats. This great variability in the scaling exponent makes any generalization unwarranted. Although inappropriate regression methods can lead to flawed estimation of the scaling exponent, inconsistency of theoretical framework and empirical patterns may have undermined the validity of previous work.

For particle physics observables at colliders such as the LHC at CERN, it has been common practice for many decades to estimate the theoretical uncertainty by studying the variations of the predicted cross sections with a priori unpredictable scales. In astroparticle physics, this has so far not been possible, since most of the observables were calculated at Born level only, so that the renormalization scheme and scale dependence could not be studied in a meaningful way. In this paper, we present the first quantitative study of the theoretical uncertainty of the neutralino dark matter relic density from scheme and scale variations. We first explain in detail how the renormalization scale enters the tree-level calculations through coupling constants, masses and mixing angles. We then demonstrate a reduction of the renormalization scale dependence through one-loop SUSY-QCD corrections in many different dark matter annihilation channels and enhanced perturbative stability of a mixed on-shell/$\\bar{\\rm DR}$ renor...

Linear-scaling quantum mechanical density functional theory calculations have been applied to study the rearrangement of chorismate to prephenate in large-scale models of the Bacillus subtilis chorismate mutase enzyme. By treating up to 2000 atoms at a consistent quantum mechanical level of theory, we obtain an unbiased, almost parameter-free description of the transition state geometry and energetics. The activation energy barrier is calculated to be lowered by 10.5 kcal mol(-1) in the enzyme, compared with the equivalent reaction in water, which is in good agreement with experiment. Natural bond orbital analysis identifies a number of active site residues that are important for transition state stabilization in chorismate mutase. This benchmark study demonstrates that linear-scalingdensity functional theory techniques are capable of simulating entire enzymes at the ab initio quantum mechanical level of accuracy.

We present a measurement of the spectral index of density fluctuations between ion and electron scales in solar wind turbulence using the EFI instrument on the ARTEMIS spacecraft. The mean spectral index at 1 AU was found to be -2.75 +/- 0.06, steeper than predictions for pure whistler or kinetic Alfven wave turbulence, but consistent with previous magnetic field measurements. The steep spectra are also consistent with expectations of increased intermittency or damping of some of the turbulent energy over this range of scales. Neither the spectral index nor the flattening of the density spectra before ion scales were found to depend on the proximity to the pressure anisotropy instability thresholds, suggesting that they are features inherent to the turbulent cascade.

The flux densityscale of Perley and Butler (2013) is extended downwards to ~50 MHz by utilizing recent observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) of 20 sources between 220 MHz and 48.1 GHz, and legacy VLA observations at 73.8 MHz. The derived spectral flux densities are placed on an absolute scale by utilizing the Baars et al. (1977) values of Cygnus A (3C405) for frequencies below 2 GHz, and the Mars-based polynomials for 3C286, 3C295, and 3C196 from Perley and Butler (2013) above 2 GHz. Polynomial expressions are presented for all 20 sources, with accuracy limited by the primary standards to 3 -- 5% over the entire frequency range. Corrections to the scales proposed by Perley and Butler (2013) and by Scaife and Heald (2012) are given.

We develop a sublinear-scaling method, referred to as MacroDFT, for the study of crystal defects using ab-initio Density Functional Theory (DFT). The sublinear scaling is achieved using a combination of the Linear Scaling Spectral Gauss Quadrature method (LSSGQ) and a Coarse-Graining approach (CG) based on the quasi-continuum method. LSSGQ reformulates DFT and evaluates the electron density without computing individual orbitals. This direct evaluation is possible by recourse to Gaussian quadrature over the spectrum of the linearized Hamiltonian operator. Furthermore, the nodes and weights of the quadrature can be computed independently for each point in the domain. This property is exploited in CG, where fields of interest are computed at selected nodes and interpolated elsewhere. In this paper, we present the MacroDFT method, its parallel implementation and an assessment of convergence and performance by means of test cases concerned with point defects in magnesium.

Liquid propulsion systems are hampered by poor flow measurements. The measurement of flow directly impacts safe motor operations, performance parameters as well as providing feedback from ground testing and developmental work. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, in an effort to improve propulsion sensor technology, has developed an all optical flow meter that directly measures the density of the fluid. The full-scale sensor was tested in a transient, multiphase liquid nitrogen fluid environment. Comparison with traditional density models shows excellent agreement with fluid density with an error of approximately 0.8%. Further evaluation shows the sensor is able to detect cavitation or bubbles in the flow stream and separate out their resulting effects in fluid density.

We present a micro-scale microbial fuel cell (MFC) with an ultramicroelectrode (UME) anode, with the aim of creating a miniaturized high-current/power-density converter using carbon-neutral and renewable energy sources. Micro-scale MFCs have been studied for more than a decade, yet their current and power densities are still an order of magnitude lower than those of their macro-scale counterparts. In order to enhance the current/power densities, we engineer a concentric ring-shaped UME, with a width of 20 μm, to facilitate the diffusion of ions in the vicinity of the micro-organisms that form biofilm on the UME. The biofilm extends approximately 15 μm from the edge of the UME, suggesting the effective biofilm area increases. Measured current/power densities per the effective area and the original anode area are 7.08 ± 0.01 A m-2 & 3.09 ± 0.04 W m-2 and 17.7 ± 0.03 A m-2 & 7.72 ± 0.09 W m-2, respectively. This is substantially higher than any prior work in micro-scale MFCs, and very close, or even higher, to that of macro-scale MFCs. A Coulombic efficiency, a measure of how efficiently an MFC harvests electrons from donor substrate, of 70%, and an energy conversion efficiency of 17% are marked, highlighting the micro-scale MFC as an attractive alternative within the existing energy conversion portfolio.

Possible linkages between climatic fluctuations in rainfall at low frequencies and local intensity fluctuations within single storms is now receiving significant attention in climate change research. To progress on a narrower scope of this problem, the cross-scale probabilistic structure of rainfall intensity records collected over time scales ranging from hours to decades at sites dominated by either convective or frontal systems is investigated. Across these sites, intermittency buildup from slow to fast time-scales is analyzed in terms of its heavy tailed and asymmetric signatures in the scale-wise evolution of rainfall probability density functions (pdfs). The analysis demonstrates that rainfall records dominated by convective storms develop heavier-tailed power law pdfs across finer scales when compared with their frontal systems counterpart. A concomitant marked asymmetry buildup also emerges across finer time scales necessitating skewed probability laws for quantifying the scale-wise evolution of rainfall pdfs. A scale-dependent probabilistic description of such fat tails, peakedness and asymmetry appearance is proposed and tested by using a modified q-Gaussian model, able to describe the scale wise evolution of rainfall pdfs in terms of the nonextensivity parameter q, a lacunarity (intermittency) correction γ and a tail asymmetry coefficient c, also functions of q.

As a guideline for experimental tests of the ideal glass transition (random-pinning glass transition, RPGT) that shall be induced in a system by randomly pinning particles, we performed first-principle computations within the hypernetted chain approximation and numerical simulations of a hard-sphere model of a glass former. We obtain confirmation of the expected enhancement of glassy behavior under the procedure of random pinning. We present the analytical phase diagram as a function of c and of the packing fraction ϕ , showing a line of RPGT ending in a critical point. We also obtain microscopic results on cooperative lengthscales characterizing medium-range amorphous order in hard-sphere glasses and indirect quantitative information on a key thermodynamic quantity defined in proximity to ideal glass transitions, the amorphous surface tension. Finally, we present numerical results of pair correlation functions able to differentiate the liquid and the glass phases, as predicted by the analytic computations.

We put to the test an effective three-dimensional electrostatic potential, obtained effectively by considering an electrostatic source inside a (5+$p$)-dimensional braneworld scenario with $p$ compact and one infinite spacial extra dimensions in the RS II-$p$ model, for $p=1$ and $p=2$. This potential is regular at the source and matches the standard Coulomb potential outside a neighborhood. We use variational and perturbative approximation methods to calculate corrections to the ground energy of the Helium atom modified by this potential, by making use of a 6 and 39-parameter trial wave function of Hylleraas type for the ground state. These corrections to the ground-state energy are compared with experimental data for Helium atom in order to set bounds for the extra dimensions lengthscale. We find that these bounds are less restrictive than the ones obtained by Morales et. al. through a calculation using the Lamb shift in Hydrogen.

The recently developed four Rsd extraction methods from a single device, involving the constant-mobility method, the direct Id—Vgs method, the conductance method and the Y-function method, are evaluated on 32 nm n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (nMOSFETs). It is found that Rsd achieved from the constant-mobility method exhibits the channel length independent characteristics. The L-dependent Rsd extracted from the other three methods is proven to be associated with the gate-voltage-induced mobility degradation in the extraction procedures. Based on L-dependent behaviors of Rsd, a new method is proposed for accurate series resistance extraction on deeply scaled MOSFETs.

The bond length alternation (BLA) of increasingly long polyacetylene oligomers has been computed using various wavefunction methods of increasing accuracy and several DFT models, including standard GGA and the most-recent meta-GGA and hybrid functionals. Our results show the meta-GGA functionals do not offer any significant improvement with respect to the GGA approaches, both providing too small values for the BLA. More accurate results are obtained with hybrid approaches, where, instead, the percent of HF exchange rules the quantitative result. In particular, hybrids including 25% of HF exchange are the most accurate, whereas TPSSh, O3LYP, τ-HCTHh provide only poor estimates.

We report on the persistent and erasable photoinduced change of normal-state transport and superconducting properties of oxygen-deficient YBa 2Cu 3O 6.6 thin films. After illumination with white light for several hours at 150K, a decrease of the electrical resistivity, an increase of the number of mobile holes, and a change of the magnetoresistance caused by superconducting order-parameter fluctuations, were observed. From the latter measurement, we find a photoinduced enhancement of the superconducting coherence lengths in both in-plane and out-of-plane directions.

The main aim of this research is to numerically obtain the permeability coefficient in the cylindrical scaffolds. For this purpose, a mathematical analysis was performed to derive an equation for desired porosity in terms of morphological parameters. Then, the considered cylindrical geometries were modeled and the permeability coefficient was calculated according to the velocity and pressure drop values based on the Darcy's law. In order to validate the accuracy of the present numerical solution, the obtained permeability coefficient was compared with the published experimental data. It was observed that this model can predict permeability with the utmost accuracy. Then, the effect of geometrical parameters including porosity, scaffold pore structure, unit cell size, and length of the scaffolds as well as entrance mass flow rate on the permeability of porous structures was studied. Furthermore, a parametric study with scaling laws analysis of sample length and mass flow rate effects on the permeability showed good fit to the obtained data. It can be concluded that the sensitivity of permeability is more noticeable at higher porosities. The present approach can be used to characterize and optimize the scaffold microstructure due to the necessity of cell growth and transferring considerations.

The exponential scalelength (L d ) of the Milky Way’s (MW’s) disk is a critical parameter for describing the global physical size of our Galaxy, important both for interpreting other Galactic measurements and helping us to understand how our Galaxy fits into extragalactic contexts. Unfortunately, current estimates span a wide range of values and are often statistically incompatible with one another. Here, we perform a Bayesian meta-analysis to determine an improved, aggregate estimate for L d , utilizing a mixture-model approach to account for the possibility that any one measurement has not properly accounted for all statistical or systematic errors. Within this machinery, we explore a variety of ways of modeling the nature of problematic measurements, and then employ a Bayesian model averaging technique to derive net posterior distributions that incorporate any model-selection uncertainty. Our meta-analysis combines 29 different (15 visible and 14 infrared) photometric measurements of L d available in the literature; these involve a broad assortment of observational data sets, MW models and assumptions, and methodologies, all tabulated herein. Analyzing the visible and infrared measurements separately yields estimates for L d of {2.71}-0.20+0.22 kpc and {2.51}-0.13+0.15 kpc, respectively, whereas considering them all combined yields 2.64 ± 0.13 kpc. The ratio between the visible and infrared scalelengths determined here is very similar to that measured in external spiral galaxies. We use these results to update the model of the Galactic disk from our previous work, constraining its stellar mass to be {4.8}-1.1+1.5× {10}10 M ⊙, and the MW’s total stellar mass to be {5.7}-1.1+1.5× {10}10 M ⊙.

The scaling of neutral atoms to large $Z$, combining periodicity with a gradual trend to homogeneity, is a fundamental probe of density functional theory, one that has driven recent advances in understanding both the kinetic and exchange-correlation energies. Although research focus is normally upon the scaling of energies, insights can also be gained from energy densities. We visualize the scaling of the positive-definite kinetic energy density (KED) in closed-shell atoms, in comparison to invariant quantities based upon the gradient and Laplacian of the density. We notice a striking fit of the KED within the core of any atom to a gradient expansion using both the gradient and the Laplacian, appearing as an asymptotic limit around which the KED oscillates. The gradient expansion is qualitatively different from that derived from first principles for a slowly-varying electron gas and is correlated with a nonzero Pauli contribution to the KED near the nucleus. We propose and explore orbital-free meta-GGA models...

We investigate spin-density-wave (SDW) phases within a generalized mean-field approximation. This approach incorporates the thermal fluctuations of SDW order and the development of short-range order above magnetic ordering temperatures Tc. Using a new Langevin dynamics method, we study mesoscale structures associated with triple- Q SDW states that are induced by Fermi surface nesting in triangular and kagome lattice Hubbard models. The core of our linear-scaling Langevin dynamics simulations is an efficient stochastic kernel polynomial method for computing the electron density matrix. We also investigate exotic phases above Tc arising from preformed magnetic moments.

We propose a method to introduce Sudakov effects to unintegrated gluon density promoting it to be hard scale dependent. The advantage of proposed approach is that it guarantees that the gluon density is positive definite and that on integrated level the Sudakov effects cancel. Besides that the method to introduce the Sudakov effects is convenient since it does not need evaluation of cross section in the process of imposing the effects. As a case study we apply the method to calculate angular correlations in production of forward-forward dijet and $R_{pA}$ ratio for p+p vs. p+Pb collision.

Urban population scaling of resource use, creativity metrics, and human behaviors has been widely studied. These studies have not looked in detail at the full range of human environments which represent a continuum from the most rural to heavily urban. We examined monthly police crime reports and property transaction values across all 573 Parliamentary Constituencies in England and Wales, finding that scaling models based on population density provided a far superior framework to traditional population scaling. We found four types of scaling: i) non-urban scaling in which a single power law explained the relationship between the metrics and population density from the most rural to heavily urban environments, ii) accelerated scaling in which high population density was associated with an increase in the power-law exponent, iii) inhibited scaling where the urban environment resulted in a reduction in the power-law exponent but remained positive, and iv) collapsed scaling where transition to the high density en...

Gradient coil inductance has been remarkably reduced by the minimum-inductance design technique, which minimizes the magnetic energy stored by the gradient coil. The planar gradient coil designed by this technique, however, often has poor magnetic field linearity. Scaling the spatial frequencies of the current density function derived by this method, the magnetic field linearity of the planar gradient coil can be greatly improved with a small sacrifice of gradient coil inductance. A figure of merit of the planar gradient coil has been found to be improved by scaling the spatial frequencies.

With help of a set of toy N-body models of dark halo formation we study the impact of small scale initial perturbations on the inner density profiles of haloes. We find a significant flattening of the inner slope $\\alpha={d \\log \\rho \\over d \\log r}$ to $\\alpha=-0.5$ in some range of scales and amplitudes of the perturbations (while in the case of absence of these perturbations the NFW profile with $\\alpha=-1$ is reproduced). This effect may be responsible for the formation of cuspless galactic haloes.

With the help of a set of toy N-body models of dark halo formation, we study the impact of small-scale initial perturbations on the inner density profiles of haloes. We find a significant flattening of the inner slope ? to α=-0.5 in some range of scales and amplitudes of the perturbations (while in the case of absence of these perturbations, the Navarro-Frenk-White profile with α=-1 is reproduced). This effect may be responsible for the formation of cuspless galactic haloes.

With help of a set of toy N-body models of dark halo formation we study the impact of small scale initial perturbations on the inner density profiles of haloes. We find a significant flattening of the inner slope $\\alpha={d \\log \\rho \\over d \\log r}$ to $\\alpha=-0.5$ in some range of scales and amplitudes of the perturbations (while in the case of absence of these perturbations the NFW profile with $\\alpha=-1$ is reproduced). This effect may be responsible for the formation of cuspless galact...

Three-dimensional simulations capable of resolving the large range of spatial scales, from the failure-zone thickness up to the size of the representative unit cell, in damage mechanics problems of particle reinforced adhesives are presented. We show that resolving this wide range of scales in complex three-dimensional heterogeneous morphologies is essential in order to apprehend fracture characteristics, such as strength, fracture toughness and shape of the softening profile. Moreover, we show that computations that resolve essential physical lengthscales capture the particle size-effect in fracture toughness, for example. In the vein of image-based computational materials science, we construct statistically optimal unit cells containing hundreds to thousands of particles. We show that these statistically representative unit cells are capable of capturing the first- and second-order probability functions of a given data-source with better accuracy than traditional inclusion packing techniques. In order to accomplish these large computations, we use a parallel multiscale cohesive formulation and extend it to finite strains including damage mechanics. The high-performance parallel computational framework is executed on up to 1024 processing cores. A mesh convergence and a representative unit cell study are performed. Quantifying the complex damage patterns in simulations consisting of tens of millions of computational cells and millions of highly nonlinear equations requires data-mining the parallel simulations, and we propose two damage metrics to quantify the damage patterns. A detailed study of volume fraction and filler size on the macroscopic traction-separation response of heterogeneous adhesives is presented.

Quantum mechanical simulation of realistic models of nanostructured systems, such as nanocrystals and crystalline interfaces, demands computational methods combining high-accuracy with low-order scaling with system size. Blöchl’s projector augmented wave (PAW) approach enables all-electron (AE) calculations with the efficiency and systematic accuracy of plane-wave pseudopotential calculations. Meanwhile, linear-scaling (LS) approaches to density functional theory (DFT) allow for simulation of thousands of atoms in feasible computational effort. This article describes an adaptation of PAW for use in the LS-DFT framework provided by the ONETEP LS-DFT package. ONETEP uses optimisation of the density matrix through in situ-optimised local orbitals rather than the direct calculation of eigenstates as in traditional PAW approaches. The method is shown to be comparably accurate to both PAW and AE approaches and to exhibit improved convergence properties compared to norm-conserving pseudopotential methods.

We present exact kinematic consistency relations for cosmological structures that do not vanish at equal times and can thus be measured in surveys. These rely on cross-correlations between the density and velocity, or momentum, fields. Indeed, the uniform transport of small-scale structures by long wavelength modes, which cannot be detected at equal times by looking at density correlations only, gives rise to a shift in the amplitude of the velocity field that could be measured. These consistency relations only rely on the weak equivalence principle and Gaussian initial conditions. They remain valid in the non-linear regime and for biased galaxy fields. They can be used to constrain non-standard cosmological scenarios or the large-scale galaxy bias.

As a quantitative measure of localization, the inverse participation ratio of low lying Dirac eigenmodes and topological charge density is calculated on quenched lattices over a wide range of lattice spacings and volumes. Since different topological objects (instantons, vortices, monopoles, and artifacts) have different co-dimension, scaling analysis provides information on the amount of each present and their correlation with the localization of low lying eigenmodes.

For particle physics observables at colliders such as the LHC at CERN, it has been common practice for many decades to estimate the theoretical uncertainty by studying the variations of the predicted cross sections with a priori unpredictable scales. In astroparticle physics, this has so far not been possible, since most of the observables were calculated at Born level only, so that the renormalization scheme and scale dependence could not be studied in a meaningful way. In this paper, we present the first quantitative study of the theoretical uncertainty of the neutralino dark matter relic density from scheme and scale variations. We first explain in detail how the renormalization scale enters the tree-level calculations through coupling constants, masses and mixing angles. We then demonstrate a reduction of the renormalization scale dependence through one-loop SUSY-QCD corrections in many different dark matter annihilation channels and enhanced perturbative stability of a mixed on-shell /DR ¯ renormalization scheme over a pure DR ¯ scheme in the top-quark sector. In the stop-stop annihilation channel, the Sommerfeld enhancement and its scale dependence are shown to be of particular importance. Finally, the impact of our higher-order SUSY-QCD corrections and their scale uncertainties are studied in three typical scenarios of the phenomenological minimal supersymmetric standard model with eleven parameters (pMSSM-11). We find that the theoretical uncertainty is reduced in many cases and can become comparable to the size of the experimental one in some scenarios.

In this paper, we simulate a front surface inverted pyramidal grating texture on 2 to 400 micron thick silicon and optimize it to derive maximum photocurrent density from the cell. We identify a one size fits all front grating period of 1000 nm that leads to maximum photo-absorption of normally incident AM1.5g solar spectrum in silicon (configured with a back surface reflector) irrespective of the thickness of the crystalline silicon absorbing layer. With the identification of such universally optimized periodicity for the case of an inverted pyramidal grating texture, a common fabrication process can be designed to manufacture high-efficiency devices on crystalline silicon regardless of wafer thickness. In order to validate the results of the simulation, we fabricated high resolution inverted pyramidal textures on a 400 micron thick silicon wafer with electron beam lithography to compare the reflectance from submicron and wavelength scale periodic textures. The experimental reflectance measurements on textur...

EPA announced the availability of the final report, Land-Use Scenarios: National-Scale Housing-Density Scenarios Consistent with Climate Change Storylines. This report describes the scenarios and models used to generate national-scale housing density scenarios for the con...

Calculations using modern linear-scaling electron-correlation methods are often much faster than the necessary reference Hartree-Fock (HF) calculations. We report a newly implemented HF program that speeds up the most time-consuming step, namely, the evaluation of the exchange contributions to the Fock matrix. Using localized orbitals and their sparsity, local density fitting (LDF), and atomic orbital domains, we demonstrate that the calculation of the exchange matrix scales asymptotically linearly with molecular size. The remaining parts of the HF calculation scale cubically but become dominant only for very large molecular sizes or with many processing cores. The method is well parallelized, and the speedup scales well with up to about 100 CPU cores on multiple compute nodes. The effect of the local approximations on the accuracy of computed HF and local second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory energies is systematically investigated, and default values are established for the parameters that determine the domain sizes. Using these values, calculations for molecules with hundreds of atoms in combination with triple-ζ basis sets can be carried out in less than 1 h, with just a few compute nodes. The method can also be used to speed up density functional theory calculations with hybrid functionals that contain HF exchange.

Six to seven year-old children, divided into two groups according to reading ability, read items designed to examine the effect of orthographic characteristics on reading accuracy. Two experiments were carried out using familiar words and nonwords as stimuli. The words and nonwords had comparable orthographic structures, and the number of orthographic neighbours was manipulated. Both reader groups participated in Expt 1, which involved three-letter items, but only the more-skilled group participated in Expt 2, which involved four-letter items. The results showed that familiar words were read more accurately than nonwords. In addition, the children were more accurate with the three-letter items than the four-letter items, and neighbourhood density affected only three-letter items. Expt 2 allowed comparisons between simple and complex graphemes. Complex vowels were more difficult than simple, and also posed more problems than common complex consonants. The results are discussed in relation to descriptions of orthographic development outlined in models of reading acquisition.

The large-scale vortical structures produced by an impinging density jet in shallow crossflow were numerically investigated in detail using RNG turbulence model.The scales, formation mechanism and evolution feature of the upstream wall vortex in relation to stagnation point and the Scarf vortex in near field were analyzed. The computed characteristic scales of the upstream vortex show distinguished three-dimensionality and vary with the velocity ratio and the water depth. The Scarf vortex in the near field plays an important role in the lateral concentration distributions of the impinging jet in crossflow. When the velocity ratio is relatively small, there exists a distinct lateral high concentration aggregation zone at the lateral edge between the bottom layer wall jet and the ambient crossflow, which is dominated by the Scarf vortex in the near field.

We critically examine how well the evolution of large-scaledensity perturbations is followed in cosmological $N$-body simulations. We first run a large volume simulation and perform a mode-by-mode analysis in three-dimensional Fourier space. We show that the growth of large-scale fluctuations significantly deviates from linear theory predictions. The deviations are caused by {\\it nonlinear} coupling with a small number of modes at largest scales owing to finiteness of the simulation volume. We then develop an analytic model based on second-order perturbation theory to quantify the effect. Our model accurately reproduces the simulation results. For a single realization, the second-order effect appears typically as ``zig-zag'' patterns around the linear-theory prediction, which imprints artificial ``oscillations'' that lie on the real baryon-acoustic oscillations. Although an ensemble average of a number of realizations approaches the linear theory prediction, the dispersions of the realizations remain large e...

The distribution of facilities is closely related to our social economic activities. Recent studies have reported a scaling relation between population and facility density, with the exponent depending on the type of facility. In this paper, we show that generally this exponent is not universal for a specific type of facility. Instead, by using Chinese data, we find that it increases with per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Thus our observed scaling law is actually a mixture of several multi-scaling relations. This result indicates that facilities may change their public or commercial attributes according to the outside environment. We argue that this phenomenon results from an unbalanced regional economic level, and suggest a modification of a previous model by introducing the consuming capacity. The modified model reproduces most of our observed properties.

The distribution of facilities is closely related to our social economic activities. Recent studies have reported a scaling relation between population and facility density with the exponent depending on the type of facility. In this paper, we show that generally this exponent is not universal for a specific type of facility. Instead by using Chinese data we find that it increases with Per Capital GDP. Thus our observed scaling law is actually a mixture of some multi-scaling relations. This result indicates that facilities may change their public or commercial attributes according to the outside environment. We argue that this phenomenon results from the unbalanced regional economic level and suggest a modification for previous model by introducing consuming capacity. The modified model reproduces most of our observed properties.

Full Text Available Plant root hairs increase the root surface to enhance the uptake of sparingly soluble and immobile nutrients, such as the essential nutrient phosphorus, from the soil. Here, root hair traits and the response to scarce local phosphorus concentration were studied in 166 accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana using split plates. Root hair density and length were correlated, but highly variable among accessions. Surprisingly, the well-known increase in root hair density under low phosphorus was mostly restricted to genotypes that had less and shorter root hairs under P sufficient conditions. By contrast, several accessions with dense and long root hairs even had lower hair density or shorter hairs in local scarce phosphorus. Furthermore, accessions with whole-genome duplications developed more dense but phosphorus-insensitive root hairs. The impact of genome duplication on root hair density was confirmed by comparing tetraploid accessions with their diploid ancestors. Genome-wide association mapping identified candidate genes potentially involved in root hair responses tp scarce local phosphate. Knock-out mutants in identified candidate genes (CYR1, At1g32360 and RLP48 were isolated and differences in root hair traits in the mutants were confirmed. The large diversity in root hair traits among accessions and the diverse response when local phosphorus is scarce is a rich resource for further functional analyses.

Beech scale, Cryptococcus fagisuga Lindinger, is a non-native invasive insect associated with beech bark disease. A quantitative method of measuring viable scaledensity at the levels of the individual tree and localized bark patches was developed. Bark patches (10 cm(2)) were removed at 0, 1, and 2 m above the ground and at the four cardinal directions from 13 trees in northern New York and 12 trees in northern Michigan. Digital photographs of each patch were made, and the wax mass area was measured from two random 1-cm(2) subsamples on each bark patch using image analysis software. Viable scale insects were counted after removing the wax under a dissecting microscope. Separate regression analyses at the whole tree level for the New York and Michigan sites each showed a strong positive relationship of wax mass area with the number of underlying viable scale insects. The relationships for the New York and Michigan data were not significantly different from each other, and when pooling data from the two sites, there was still a significant positive relationship between wax mass area and the number of scale insects. The relationships between viable scale insects and wax mass area were different at the 0-, 1-, and 2-m sampling heights but do not seem to affect the relationship. This method does not disrupt the insect or its interactions with the host tree.

This report summarizes the development of new fission gas diffusion models from lower lengthscale simulations and assessment of these models in terms of annealing experiments and fission gas release simulations using the BISON fuel performance code. Based on the mechanisms established from density functional theory (DFT) and empirical potential calculations, continuum models for diffusion of xenon (Xe) in UO2 were derived for both intrinsic conditions and under irradiation. The importance of the large XeU3O cluster (a Xe atom in a uranium + oxygen vacancy trap site with two bound uranium vacancies) is emphasized, which is a consequence of its high mobility and stability. These models were implemented in the MARMOT phase field code, which is used to calculate effective Xe diffusivities for various irradiation conditions. The effective diffusivities were used in BISON to calculate fission gas release for a number of test cases. The results are assessed against experimental data and future directions for research are outlined based on the conclusions.

A large-scale IBAD system with the world largest ion source was employed to fabricate ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) MgO films. Finally, we successfully fabricated a 1 km-length IBAD-MgO film at a production rate of 1 km/h. We also studied pulsed laser deposited (PLD) CeO{sub 2} films directly on IBAD-MgO films. An observation at the interface between MgO and CeO{sub 2} films by a transmission electron microscope (TEM), showed that a CeO{sub 2} film was finely textured on an IBAD-MgO film though a lattice mismatch was large (28.5%). Then we fabricated PLD-GdBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7-x} (GdBCO) film on the CeO{sub 2}/MgO substrate. Critical currents (I{sub c}) and critical current density (J{sub c}) of the films were over 300 A and 3 MA/cm{sup 2} at 77 K, self-field.

Full Text Available Barbed and woven wire fences, common structures across western North America, act as impediments to wildlife movements. In particular, fencing influences pronghorn (Antilocapra americana daily and seasonal movements, as well as modifying habitat selection. Because of fencing's impacts to pronghorn and other wildlife, it is a potentially important factor in both wildlife movement and habitat selection models. At this time, no geospatial fencing data is available at regional scales. Consequently, we constructed a regional fence model using a series of land tenure assumptions for the Hi-Line region of northern Montana--an area consisting of 13 counties over 103,400 km(2. Randomized 3.2 km long transects (n = 738 on both paved and unpaved roads were driven to collect information on habitat, fence densities and fence type. Using GIS, we constructed a fence location and a density model incorporating ownership, size, neighboring parcels, township boundaries and roads. Local knowledge of land ownership and land use assisted in improving the final models. We predict there is greater than 263,300 km of fencing in the Hi-Line region, with a maximum density of 6.8 km of fencing per km(2 and mean density of 2.4 km of fencing per km(2. Using field data to assess model accuracy, Cohen's Kappa was measured at 0.40. On-the-ground fence modification or removal could be prioritized by identifying high fence densities in critical wildlife areas such as pronghorn migratory pathways or sage grouse lekking habitat. Such novel fence data can assist wildlife and land managers to assess effects of anthropogenic features to wildlife at various scales; which in turn may help conserve declining grassland species and overall ecological functionality.

Barbed and woven wire fences, common structures across western North America, act as impediments to wildlife movements. In particular, fencing influences pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) daily and seasonal movements, as well as modifying habitat selection. Because of fencing's impacts to pronghorn and other wildlife, it is a potentially important factor in both wildlife movement and habitat selection models. At this time, no geospatial fencing data is available at regional scales. Consequently, we constructed a regional fence model using a series of land tenure assumptions for the Hi-Line region of northern Montana--an area consisting of 13 counties over 103,400 km(2). Randomized 3.2 km long transects (n = 738) on both paved and unpaved roads were driven to collect information on habitat, fence densities and fence type. Using GIS, we constructed a fence location and a density model incorporating ownership, size, neighboring parcels, township boundaries and roads. Local knowledge of land ownership and land use assisted in improving the final models. We predict there is greater than 263,300 km of fencing in the Hi-Line region, with a maximum density of 6.8 km of fencing per km(2) and mean density of 2.4 km of fencing per km(2). Using field data to assess model accuracy, Cohen's Kappa was measured at 0.40. On-the-ground fence modification or removal could be prioritized by identifying high fence densities in critical wildlife areas such as pronghorn migratory pathways or sage grouse lekking habitat. Such novel fence data can assist wildlife and land managers to assess effects of anthropogenic features to wildlife at various scales; which in turn may help conserve declining grassland species and overall ecological functionality.

Full Text Available High-latitude peatlands contain about one third of the world's soil organic carbon, most of which is derived from partly decomposed Sphagnum (peat moss plants. We conducted a meta-analysis based on a global data set of Sphagnum growth measurements collected from published literature to investigate the effects of bioclimatic variables on Sphagnum growth. Analysis of variance and general linear models were used to relate Sphagnum magellanicum and S. fuscum growth rates to photosynthetically active radiation integrated over the growing season (PAR0 and a moisture index. We found that PAR0 was the main predictor of Sphagnum growth for the global data set, and effective moisture was only correlated with moss growth at continental sites. The strong correlation between Sphagnum growth and PAR0 suggests the existence of a global pattern of growth, with slow rates under cool climate and short growing seasons, highlighting the important role of growing season length in explaining peatland biomass production. Large-scale patterns of cloudiness during the growing season might also limit moss growth. Although considerable uncertainty remains over the carbon balance of peatlands under a changing climate, our results suggest that increasing PAR0 as a result of global warming and lengthening growing seasons, without major change in cloudiness, could promote Sphagnum growth. Assuming that production and decomposition have the same sensitivity to temperature, this enhanced growth could lead to greater peat-carbon sequestration, inducing a negative feedback to climate change.

The PML gene located on chromosome band 15q22 is involved with the RAR{alpha} locus (17q21) in a balanced reciprocal translocation uniquely observed in acute promyelocytic leukemia. Physical mapping studies by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis revealed that the PML gene is flanked by two CpG islands that are separated by a variable distance in normal individuals. Several lines of evidence demonstrate that this is the consequence of a large insertion/deletion polymorphism linked to the PML locus: (1) overlapping fragments obtained with a variety of rare-cutting restriction enzymes demonstrated the same variability in distance between the flanking CpG islands; (2) mapping with restriction enzymes insensitive to CpG methylation confirmed that the findings were not a consequence of variable methylation of CpG dinucleotides; (3) the polymorphism followed a Mendelian inheritance pattern. This polymorphism is localized 3{prime} to the PML locus. There are five common alleles, described on the basis of BssHII fragments, ranging from 220 to 350 kb with increments of approximately 30 kb between alleles. Both heterozygous (61%) and homozygous (391%) patterns were observed in normal individuals. Mega-base-scale insertion/deletion restriction fragment length polymorphisms are very rare and have been described initially in the context of multigene families. Such structures have been also reported as likely regions of genetic instability. High-resolution restriction mapping of this particular structure linked to the PML locus is underway. 47 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.

The Nanoscopium 155 m-long beamline of Synchrotron Soleil is dedicated to scanning hard X-ray nanoprobe techniques. Nanoscopium aims to reach ≤100 nm resolution in the 5-20 keV energy range for routine user experiments. The beamline design tackles the tight stability requirements of such a scanning nanoprobe by creating an overfilled secondary source, implementing all horizontally reflecting main beamline optics, applying high mechanical stability equipment and constructing a dedicated high-stability building envelope. Multi-technique scanning imaging and tomography including X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and spectro-microscopy, absorption, differential phase and dark-field contrasts are implemented at the beamline in order to provide simultaneous information on the elemental distribution, speciation and sample morphology. This paper describes the optical concept and the first measured performance of the Nanoscopium beamline followed by the hierarchical length-scale multi-technique imaging experiments performed with dwell times down to 3 ms per pixel.

Micro- and nanoscale surface textures, when optimally designed, present a unique approach to improve surface functionalities. Coupling surface texture with shape memory polymers may generate reversibly tuneable surface properties. A shape memory polyetherurethane is used to prepare various surface textures including 2 μm- and 200 nm-gratings, 250 nm-pillars and 200 nm-holes. The mechanical deformation via stretching and recovery of the surface texture are investigated as a function of lengthscales and shapes. Results show the 200 nm-grating exhibiting more deformation than 2 μm-grating. Grating imparts anisotropic and surface area-to-volume effects, causing different degree of deformation between gratings and pillars under the same applied macroscopic strain. Full distribution of stress within the film causes the holes to deform more substantially than the pillars. In the recovery study, unlike a nearly complete recovery for the gratings after 10 transformation cycles, the high contribution of surface energy impedes the recovery of holes and pillars. The surface textures are shown to perform a switchable wetting function. This study provides insights into how geometric features of shape memory surface patterns can be designed to modulate the shape programming and recovery, and how the control of reversibly deformable surface textures can be applied to transfer microdroplets.

Scientists pay great attention to different-time-scale signals in the length of day (LOD)variations ALOD,which provide signatures of the Earth's interior structure,couplings among different layers,and potential excitations of ocean and atmosphere.In this study,based on the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD),we analyzed the latest time series of ALOD data spanning from January 1962 to March 2015.We observed the signals with periods and amplitudes of about 0.5 month and 0.19 ms,1.0 month and 0.19 ms,0.5 yr and 0.22 ms,1.0 yr and 0.18 ms,2.28 yr and 0.03 ms,5.48 yr and 0.05 ms,respectively,in coincidence with the results of predecessors.In addition,some signals that were previously not definitely observed by predecessors were detected in this study,with periods and amplitudes of 9.13 d and 0.12 ms,13.69 yr and 0.10 ms,respectively.The mechanisms of the LOD fluctuations of these two signals are still open.

Full Text Available High-latitude peatlands contain about one third of the world's soil organic carbon, most of which is derived from partly decomposed Sphagnum (peat moss plants. We conducted a meta-analysis based on a global dataset of Sphagnum growth measurements collected from published literature to investigate the effects of bioclimatic variables on Sphagnum growth. Analysis of variance and general linear models were used to relate Sphagnum magellanicum and S. fuscum growth rates to photosynthetically active radiation integrated over the growing season (PAR0 and a moisture index. We found that PAR0 was the main predictor of Sphagnum growth for the global dataset, and effective moisture was only correlated with moss growth at continental sites. The strong correlation between Sphagnum growth and PAR0 suggests the existence of a global pattern of growth, with slow rates under cool climate and short growing seasons, highlighting the important role of temperature and growing season length in explaining peatland biomass production. Large-scale patterns of cloudiness during the growing season might also limit moss growth. Although considerable uncertainty remains over the carbon balance of peatlands under a changing climate, our results suggest that increasing PAR0 as a result of global warming and lengthening growing seasons could promote Sphagnum growth. Assuming that production and decomposition have the same sensitivity to temperature, this enhanced growth could lead to greater peat-carbon sequestration, inducing a negative feedback to climate change.

The magnetic properties of low dimensional solid state matter is of the utmost interest both scientifically as well as technologically. In addition to the charge of the electron which is the base for current electronics, by taking into account the spin degree of freedom in future spintronics applications open a new avenue. Progress towards a better physical understanding of the mechanism and principles involved as well as potential applications of nanomagnetic devices can only be achieved with advanced analytical tools. Soft X-ray microscopy providing a spatial resolution towards 10nm, a time resolution currently in the sub-ns regime and inherent elemental sensitivity is a very promising technique for that. This article reviews the recent achievements of magnetic soft X-ray microscopy by selected examples of spin torque phenomena, stochastical behavior on the nanoscale and spin dynamics in magnetic nanopatterns. The future potential with regard to addressing fundamental magnetic length and time scales, e.g. imaging fsec spin dynamics at upcoming X-ray sources is pointed out.

This paper presents a community integration strategy for large-scale networks, based on pre-partitioning, followed by optimization of an improved modularity density increment Δ D. Our proposed method initially searches for local core nodes in the network, i.e. potential community centers, and expands these communities to include neighbor nodes which have sufficiently high similarity with the core node. In this way, we can effectively exploit the information of the node and structure of the network, to accurately pre-partition the network into communities. Next, we arrange these pre-partitioned communities according to their external connections in descending order. In this way, we can ensure that communities with greater influence are prioritized during the process of community integration. At the same time, this paper proposes an improved modularity density increment Δ D, and shows how to use this as an objective function during the community integration optimization process. During the process of community consolidation, those neighbor communities with few external connections are prioritized for merging, thereby avoiding the fusion errors. Finally, we incorporate global reasoning into the process of local integration. We calculate and compare the improved modularity density increment of each pair of communities, to determine whether or not they should be integrated, effectively improve the accuracy of community integration. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm can obtain superior community classification results on 5 large-scale networks, as compared with 8 other well known algorithms from the literature.

Changes in ionospheric plasma densities can affect society more than ever because of our increasing reliance on communication, surveillance, navigation, and timing technology. Models struggle to predict changes in ionospheric densities at nearly all temporal and spatial scales, especially during geomagnetic storms. Here we combine a 50 year (1965-2015) geomagnetic disturbance storm time (Dst) index with plasma density measurements from a worldwide network of 132 vertical incidence ionosondes to develop a picture of global scale changes in peak plasma density due to geomagnetic storms. Vertical incidence ionosondes provide measurements of the critical frequency of the ionospheric F2 layer (foF2), a direct measure of the peak electron density (NmF2) of the ionosphere. By dissecting the NmF2 perturbations with respect to the local time at storm onset, season, and storm intensity, it is found that (i) the storm-associated depletions (negative storm effects) and enhancements (positive storm effects) are driven by different but related physical mechanisms, and (ii) the depletion mechanism tends to dominate over the enhancement mechanism. The negative storm effects, which are detrimental to HF radio links, are found to start immediately after geomagnetic storm onset in the nightside high-latitude ionosphere. The depletions in the dayside high-latitude ionosphere are delayed by a few hours. The equatorward expansion of negative storm effects is found to be regulated by storm intensity (farthest equatorward and deepest during intense storms), season (largest in summer), and time of day (generally deeper on the nightside). In contrast, positive storm effects typically occur on the dayside midlatitude and low-latitude ionospheric regions when the storms are in the main phase, regardless of the season. Closer to the magnetic equator, moderate density enhancements last up to 40 h during the recovery phase of equinox storms, regardless of the local time. Strikingly, high

Full Text Available Larger, and deeper, root systems of new maize varieties, compared to older varieties, are thought to have enabled improved acquisition of soil resources and, consequently, greater grain yields. To compare the spatial distributions of the root systems of new and old maize varieties and their relationships with spatial variations in soil concentrations of available nitrogen (N, phosphorus (P and potassium (K, two years of field experiments were performed using six Chinese maize varieties released in different eras. Vertical distributions of roots, and available N, P and K in the 0-60 cm soil profile were determined in excavated soil monoliths at silking and maturity. The results demonstrated that new maize varieties had larger root dry weight, higher grain yield and greater nutrient accumulation than older varieties. All varieties had similar total root length and vertical root distribution at silking, but newer varieties maintained greater total root length and had more roots in the 30-60 cm soil layers at maturity. The spatial variation of soil mineral N (Nmin in each soil horizon was larger than that of Olsen-P and ammonium-acetate-extractable K, and was inversely correlated with root lengthdensity (RLD, especially in the 0-20 cm soil layer. It was concluded that greater acquisition of mineral nutrients and higher yields of newer varieties were associated with greater total root length at maturity. The negative relationship between RLD and soil Nmin at harvest for all varieties suggests the importance of the spatial distribution of the root system for N uptake by maize.

Larger, and deeper, root systems of new maize varieties, compared to older varieties, are thought to have enabled improved acquisition of soil resources and, consequently, greater grain yields. To compare the spatial distributions of the root systems of new and old maize varieties and their relationships with spatial variations in soil concentrations of available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), two years of field experiments were performed using six Chinese maize varieties released in different eras. Vertical distributions of roots, and available N, P and K in the 0-60 cm soil profile were determined in excavated soil monoliths at silking and maturity. The results demonstrated that new maize varieties had larger root dry weight, higher grain yield and greater nutrient accumulation than older varieties. All varieties had similar total root length and vertical root distribution at silking, but newer varieties maintained greater total root length and had more roots in the 30-60 cm soil layers at maturity. The spatial variation of soil mineral N (Nmin) in each soil horizon was larger than that of Olsen-P and ammonium-acetate-extractable K, and was inversely correlated with root lengthdensity (RLD), especially in the 0-20 cm soil layer. It was concluded that greater acquisition of mineral nutrients and higher yields of newer varieties were associated with greater total root length at maturity. The negative relationship between RLD and soil Nmin at harvest for all varieties suggests the importance of the spatial distribution of the root system for N uptake by maize.

In this thesis, the interplay between diffusion and relaxation effects in spatially selective NMR experiments at short lengthscales is explored. This is especially relevant in the context of both conventional and mechanically detected MRI at (sub)micron resolution in biological specimens. Recent results on selectively excited very thin slices showed an in-slice-magnetization recovery orders of magnitude faster than the longitudinal relaxation time T1. However, those experiments were run on fully relaxed samples while MRI and especially mechanically detected NMR experiments are typically run in a periodic fashion with repetition times far below T1. The main purpose of this work therefore was to extend the study of the interplay between diffusion and longitudinal relaxation to periodic excitations. In some way, this is inverse phenomenon to the DESIRE (Diffusive Enhancement of SIgnal and REsolution) approach, proposed 1992 by Lauterbur. Experiments on periodically excited thin slices were carried out at a dedicated static field gradient cryomagnet with magnetic field gradients up to 180 T/m. In order to obtain plane slices, an appropriate isosurface of the gradient magnet had to be identified. It was found at a field of 3.8 T with a gradient of 73 T/m. In this field, slices down to a thickness of 3.2 {mu}m could be excited. The detection of the NMR signal was done using FIDs instead of echoes as the excitation bandwidth of those thin slices is sufficiently small to observe FIDs which are usually considered to be elusive to detection in such strong static field gradients. A simulation toolbox based on the full Bloch-Torrey-equation was developed to describe the excitation and the formation of NMR signals under those unusual conditions as well as the interplay of diffusion and magnetization recovery. Both the experiments and the simulations indicate that diffusion effects lead to a strongly enhanced magnetization modulation signal also under periodic excitation

In this paper, in the framework of the secondary infall model, the correlation between the central surface density and the halo core radius of galaxy, and cluster of galaxies, dark matter haloes was analyzed, this having recently been studied on a wide range of scales. We used Del Popolo (2009) secondary infall model taking into account ordered and random angular momentum, dynamical friction, and dark matter (DM) adiabatic contraction to calculate the density profile of haloes, and then these profiles are used to determine the surface density of DM haloes. The main result is that $r_\\ast$ (the halo characteristic radius) is not an universal quantity as claimed by Donato et al. (2009) and Gentile et al. (2009). On the contrary, we find a correlation with the halo mass $M_{200}$ in agreement with Cardone & Tortora (2010), Boyarsky at al. (2009) and Napolitano et al. (2010), but with a significantly smaller scatter, namely $0.16 \\pm 0.05$. We also consider the baryon column density finding this latter being ...

Miniature bioreactors under parallel fed-batch operations are not only useful screening tools for bioprocess development but also provide a suitable basis for eventual scale-up. In this study, three feeding strategies were investigated: besides the established intermittent feeding by a liquid handler, an optimized microfluidic device and a new enzymatic release system were applied for parallel fed-batch cultivation of Escherichia coli HMS174(DE3) and BL21(DE3) strains in stirred-tank bioreactors on a 10 mL scale. Lower fluctuation in dissolved oxygen (DO) and higher optical densities were measured in fed-batch processes applying the microfluidic device or the enzymatic glucose/fructose release system (conversion of intermittently added sucrose by an invertase), but no difference in dry cell weights (DCW) were observed. With all three feeding strategies high cell densities were realized on a milliliter scale with final optical density measured at 600 nm (OD600 ) of 114-133 and final DCW concentrations of 69-70 g L(-1) . The effect of feeding strategies on the expression of two heterologous proteins was investigated. Whereas no impact was observed on the expression of the spider silk protein eADF4(C16), the fluorescence of enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP) was reproducibly lower, if an intermittent glucose feed was applied. Thus, the impact of feeding strategy on expression is strongly dependent on the E. coli strain and/or expressed protein. As a completely continuous feed supply is difficult to realize in miniature bioreactors, the enzymatic release approach from this study can be easily applied in all microfluidic system to reduce fluctuations of glucose supply and DO concentrations.

The calculation of the bond-length alternation (BLA) in trans-polyacetylene has been chosen as benchmark to emphasize the effect of the self-interaction error within density-functional theory (DFT). In particular, the BLA of increasingly long acetylene oligomers has been computed using the Møller-Plesset wave-function method truncated at the second order and several DFT models. While local-density approximation (LDA) or generalized gradient corrected (GGA) functionals strongly underestimate the BLA, approaches including self-interaction corrections (SIC) provide significant improvements. Indeed, the simple averaged-density SIC scheme (ADSIC), recently proposed by Legrand et al. [J. Phys. B 35, 1115 (2002)], provides better results for the structure of large oligomers than the more complex approach of Krieger et al. [Phys. Rev. A 45, 101 (1992)]. The ADSIC method is particularly promising since both the exchange-correlation energy and potential are improved with respect to standard LDA/GGA using a physically appealing correction, through a different route than the more popular approach through the Hartree-Fock exchange inclusion within the hybrid functionals.

The midplane separatrix density is characterized in response to variations in upstream parallel heat flux density and central density through deuterium gas injection. The midplane density is determined from a high spatial resolution Thomson scattering diagnostic at the midplane with power balance analysis to determine the separatrix location. The heat flux density is varied by scans of three parameters, auxiliary heating, toroidal field with fixed plasma current, and plasma current with fixed safety factor, q 95. The separatrix density just before divertor detachment onset is found to scale consistent with the two-point model when radiative dissipation is taken into account. The ratio of separatrix to pedestal density, n e,sep/n e,ped varies from ⩽30% to ⩾60% over the dataset, helping to resolve the conflicting scaling of core plasma density limit and divertor detachment onset. The scaling of the separatrix density at detachment onset is combined with H-mode power threshold scaling to obtain a scaling ratio of minimum n e,sep/n e,ped expected in future devices.

As it stands, density matrix purification is a powerful tool for linear scaling electronic structure calculations. The convergence is rapid and depends only weakly on the band gap. However, as will be shown in this letter, there is room for improvements. The key is to allow for nonmonotonicity in the recursive polynomial expansion. On the basis of this idea, new purification schemes are proposed that require only half the number of matrix-matrix multiplications compared to previous schemes. The speedup is essentially independent of the location of the chemical potential and increases with decreasing band gap.

The precipitate structure and precipitation kinetics in an Al-Cu-Mg alloy (AA2024) aged at 190 °C, 208 °C, and 226 °C have been studied using ex situ Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and in situ synchrotron-based, combined ultra-small angle X-ray scattering, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) across a lengthscale from sub-Angstrom to several micrometers. TEM brings information concerning the nature, morphology, and size of the precipitates while SAXS and WAXS provide qualitative and quantitative information concerning the time-dependent size and volume fraction evolution of the precipitates at different stages of the precipitation sequence. Within the experimental time resolution, precipitation at these ageing temperatures involves dissolution of nanometer-sized small clusters and formation of the planar S phase precipitates. Using a three-parameter scattering model constructed on the basis of TEM results, we established the temperature-dependent kinetics for the cluster-dissolution and S-phase formation processes simultaneously. These two processes are shown to have different kinetic rates, with the cluster-dissolution rate approximately double the S-phase formation rate. We identified a dissolution activation energy at (149.5 ± 14.6) kJ mol-1, which translates to (1.55 ± 0.15) eV/atom, as well as an activation energy for the formation of S precipitates at (129.2 ± 5.4) kJ mol-1, i.e. (1.33 ± 0.06) eV/atom. Importantly, the SAXS/WAXS results show the absence of an intermediate Guinier-Preston Bagaryatsky 2 (GPB2)/S" phase in the samples under the experimental ageing conditions. These results are further validated by precipitation simulations that are based on Langer-Schwartz theory and a Kampmann-Wagner numerical method.

In this paper, we introduce a new way to estimate the scaling parameter of a self-similar process by considering the maximum probability density function (pdf) of tis increments. We prove this for $H$-self-similar processes in general and experimentally investigate it for turbulent velocity and temperature increments. We consider turbulent velocity database from an experimental homogeneous and nearly isotropic turbulent channel flow, and temperature data set obtained near the sidewall of a Rayleigh-B\\'{e}nard convection cell, where the turbulent flow is driven by buoyancy. For the former database, it is found that the maximum value of increment pdf $p_{\\max}(\\tau)$ is in a good agreement with lognormal distribution. We also obtain a scaling exponent $\\alpha\\simeq 0.37$, which is consistent with the scaling exponent for the first-order structure function reported in other studies. For the latter one, we obtain a scaling exponent $\\alpha_{\\theta}\\simeq0.33$. This index value is consistent with the Kolmogorov-Ob...

Recent work in our group on the fabricationmicrostructure-superconducting properties of composites of Nb-Ti has produced much new information about the precipitate morphology and origins of high critical current density (J /SUB c/ ) in these materials./sup 1 -4/ Precipitation of Ti-rich phase is seen to commence as a grain boundary film 2 - 4 nm thick, the film then developing into approximately equiaxed particles of ..cap alpha..-Ti at the boundary triple points. The typical size of such precipitates is 50 - 100 nm. Controlled drawing of such a structure produces an array of locally ordered ribbon precipitates. These precipitates are typically 3 - 5 nm thick by 100 - 300 nm long (when observed in transverse section). Their length in longitudinal section appears to be several hundred nm, indicating great ductility in these small ..cap alpha..-Ti precipitates. The typical separation of the precipitates is 20 - 30 nm. Thus the dimensions of the precipitate array are quite comparable to that of the flux lattice since the fluxoid separation is 22 nm at 5 T and the fluxoid diameter of Nb 46.5 wt% Ti is approximately 10 nm. The flux pinning behavior of these precipitate structures is expected to be complex: /SUP 2.4/ the defect density is very high, the precipitate morphology has a very high aspect ratio and the extreme thinness of the precipitates must permit some superconductivity to be induced in them by the proximity effect./sup 5/

The charge and discharge of lithium ion batteries are often accompanied by electrochemically driven phase-transformation processes. In this work, two in situ and operando methods, that is, micro-Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD), have been combined to study the phase-transformation process in LiFePO4 at two distinct lengthscales, namely, particle-level scale (∼1 μm) and macroscopic scale (∼several cm). In situ Raman studies revealed a discrete mode of phase transformation at the particle level. Besides, the preferred electrochemical transport network, particularly the carbon content, was found to govern the sequence of phase transformation among particles. In contrast, at the macroscopic level, studies conducted at four different discharge rates showed a continuous but delayed phase transformation. These findings uncovered the intricate phase transformation in LiFePO4 and potentially offer valuable insights into optimizing the length-scale-dependent properties of battery materials.

Using the 2004-2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data that are linked to county-level data from the Area Health Resources Files, this study examined whether the healthy immigrant effect applies to mental health of foreign-born older adults. Additionally, testing a protective ethnic density effect on older foreign-born individuals' mental health, this study examined how the percentage of foreign-born population in the county affected the relationship between older adults' immigration status (U.S.-nativity and length of residence in the U.S.) and their mental health status. The sample included 29,011 individuals (level-1) from 920 counties (level-2) across 50 states and D.C. Using the Mental Component Summary of the Short-Form 12, the Kessler Index (K-6), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2), U.S.-born individuals (n = 24,225), earlier immigrants (≥15 years in the U.S.; n = 3866), and recent immigrants (U.S.; n = 920) were compared. The results indicate that recent immigrants showed worse mental health on all three measures compared with U.S.-born individuals and on the K-6 and PHQ-2 compared with earlier immigrants. Higher county-level foreign-born densities were associated with worse mental health status of individuals. However, the significant interactions found in the full conditional multilevel models indicated that the high foreign-born density functioned as a risk factor for worse mental health only among recent immigrants but not among the U.S.-born. In conclusion, the results revealed the vulnerability of older recent immigrants, especially those living in the counties with high foreign-born densities.

The resilience of a National Forest Inventory and Monitoring sample design can sometimes depend upon the degree to which it can adapt to fluctuations in funding. If a budget reduction necessitates the observation of fewer plots per year, some practitioners weigh the problem as a tradeoff between reducing the total number of plots and measuring the original number of...

We describe a massively parallel implementation of the recently developed discontinuous Galerkin density functional theory (DGDFT) [J. Comput. Phys. 2012, 231, 2140] method, for efficient large-scale Kohn-Sham DFT based electronic structure calculations. The DGDFT method uses adaptive local basis (ALB) functions generated on-the-fly during the self-consistent field (SCF) iteration to represent the solution to the Kohn-Sham equations. The use of the ALB set provides a systematic way to improve the accuracy of the approximation. It minimizes the number of degrees of freedom required to represent the solution to the Kohn-Sham problem for a desired level of accuracy. In particular, DGDFT can reach the planewave accuracy with far fewer numbers of degrees of freedom. By using the pole expansion and selected inversion (PEXSI) technique to compute electron density, energy and atomic forces, we can make the computational complexity of DGDFT scale at most quadratically with respect to the number of electrons for both i...

We describe a massively parallel implementation of the recently developed discontinuous Galerkin density functional theory (DGDFT) method, for efficient large-scale Kohn-Sham DFT based electronic structure calculations. The DGDFT method uses adaptive local basis (ALB) functions generated on-the-fly during the self-consistent field iteration to represent the solution to the Kohn-Sham equations. The use of the ALB set provides a systematic way to improve the accuracy of the approximation. By using the pole expansion and selected inversion technique to compute electron density, energy, and atomic forces, we can make the computational complexity of DGDFT scale at most quadratically with respect to the number of electrons for both insulating and metallic systems. We show that for the two-dimensional (2D) phosphorene systems studied here, using 37 basis functions per atom allows us to reach an accuracy level of 1.3 × 10{sup −4} Hartree/atom in terms of the error of energy and 6.2 × 10{sup −4} Hartree/bohr in terms of the error of atomic force, respectively. DGDFT can achieve 80% parallel efficiency on 128,000 high performance computing cores when it is used to study the electronic structure of 2D phosphorene systems with 3500-14 000 atoms. This high parallel efficiency results from a two-level parallelization scheme that we will describe in detail.

We present the first dynamical mass measurements for Lyα galaxies at high redshift, based on velocity dispersion measurements from rest-frame optical emission lines and size measurements from Hubble Space Telescope imaging, for nine galaxies drawn from four surveys. We use these measurements to study Lyα galaxies in the context of galaxy scaling relations. The resulting dynamical masses range from 10{sup 9} to 10{sup 10} M {sub ☉}. We also fit stellar population models to our sample and use them to place the Lyα sample on a stellar mass versus line width relation. The Lyα galaxies generally follow the same scaling relation as star-forming galaxies at lower redshift, although, lower stellar mass fits are also acceptable in ∼1/3 of the Lyα galaxies. Using the dynamical masses as an upper limit on gas mass, we show that Lyα galaxies have unusually active star formation for their gas mass surface density. This behavior is consistent with what is observed in starburst galaxies, despite the typically smaller masses and sizes of the Lyα galaxy population. Finally, we examine the mass densities of these galaxies and show that their future evolution likely requires dissipational ('wet') merging. In short, we find that Lyα galaxies are low-mass cousins of larger starbursts.

Experimental techniques for electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) combine high energy resolution with high spatial resolution. They are therefore powerful tools for investigating the local electronic structure of complex systems such as nanostructures, interfaces and even individual defects. Interpretation of experimental electron energy loss spectra is often challenging and can require theoretical modelling of candidate structures, which themselves may be large and complex, beyond the capabilities of traditional cubic-scalingdensity functional theory. In this work, we present functionality to compute electron energy loss spectra within the onetep linear-scalingdensity functional theory code. We first demonstrate that simulated spectra agree with those computed using conventional plane wave pseudopotential methods to a high degree of precision. The ability of onetep to tackle large problems is then exploited to investigate convergence of spectra with respect to supercell size. Finally, we apply the novel functionality to a study of the electron energy loss spectra of defects on the (1 0 1) surface of an anatase slab and determine concentrations of defects which might be experimentally detectable.

Density functional reactivity theory (DFRT) employs the electron density and its related quantities to describe reactivity properties of a molecular system. Quantities from information theory such as Shannon entropy, Fisher information, and Ghosh-Berkowitz-Parr entropy are natural descriptors within the DFRT framework. They have been previously employed to quantify electrophilicity, nucleophilicity and the steric effect. In this work, we examine their scaling properties with respect to the total number of electrons. To that end, we considered their representations in terms of both the electron density and the shape function for isolated atoms and neutral molecules. We also investigated their atomic behaviors in different molecules with three distinct partitioning schemes: Bader's zero-flux, Becke's fuzzy atom, and Hirshfeld's stockholder partitioning. Strong linear relationships of these quantities as a function of the total electron population are reported for atoms, molecules, and atoms in molecules. These relationships reveal how these information-theoretic quantities depend on the molecular environment and the electron population. These trends also indicate how these quantities can be used to explore chemical reactivity for real chemical processes.

We propose a new approach to the missing baryons problem. Building on the common assumption that the missing baryons are in the form of the Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM), we further assumed here that the galaxy luminosity density can be used as a tracer of the WHIM. The latter assumption is supported by our finding of a significant correlation between the WHIM density and the galaxy luminosity density in the hydrodynamical simulations of Cui et al. (2012). We further found that the fraction of the gas mass in the WHIM phase is substantially (by a factor of $\\sim$1.6) higher within the large scale galactic filaments, i.e. $\\sim$70\\%, compared to the average in the full simulation volume of $\\sim$0.1\\,Gpc$^3$. The relation between the WHIM overdensity and the galaxy luminosity overdensity within the galactic filaments is consistent with linear: $\\delta_{\\rm whim}\\,=\\,0.7\\,\\pm\\,0.1\\,\\times\\,\\delta_\\mathrm{LD}^{0.9 \\pm 0.2}$. We applied our procedure to the line of sight to the blazar H2356-309 and found e...

Some of the most exotic material properties derive from electronic states with short correlation length (~10-500 {\\AA}), suggesting that the local structural symmetry may play a relevant role in their behavior. Here we discuss the combined use of polarized x-ray absorption fine structure and x-ray diffraction at high pressure as a powerful method to tune and probe structural and electronic orders at multiple lengthscales. Besides addressing some of the technical challenges associated with such experiments, we illustrate this approach with results obtained in the cuprate La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_4$, in which the response of electronic order to pressure can only be understood by probing the structure at the relevant lengthscales.

Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers can be developed more quickly and at a lower cost than microsatellite and single nucleotide polymorphism markers, which makes them ideal markers for large-scale studies of understudied taxa — such as species at risk. However,...

This document is the final SAND Report for the LDRD Project 102660 - 'Bottomup' meets 'top-down': Self-assembly to direct manipulation of nanostructures on lengthscales from atoms to microns - funded through the Strategic Partnerships investment area as part of the National Institute for Nano-Engineering (NINE) project.

A theoretical study on the effect of polydispersity of two-length-scale binary multiblock copolymers on the shape of the structure factor is presented. A bifurcation diagram is constructed showing the partition of the parameter space into domains differing in the way in which the homogeneous melt lo

A theoretical study on the effect of polydispersity of two-length-scale binary multiblock copolymers on the shape of the structure factor is presented. A bifurcation diagram is constructed showing the partition of the parameter space into domains differing in the way in which the homogeneous melt lo

This article is divided into two parts. In the first part, the atomic unit (au) system is introduced and the scales of time, space (length), and speed, as well as those of mass and energy, in the atomic world are discussed. In the second part, the utility of atomic units in quantum mechanical and spectroscopic calculations is illustrated with…

The micellization in mixed solvent was studied using conductimetry, density measurements (molar volumes), and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to explore dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTABr) micelle formation throughout the entire composition range of water-dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) mixtures. As the concentration of DMSO was increased in the mixture, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) increased, the aggregation number decreased and the ionization degree increased, until no aggregates could be detected any more for DMSO molar fraction higher than 0.51. The results were consistent with the presence of globular micelles interacting via a coulombic potential. The experimental CMC values and aggregation numbers were successfully reconciled with a molecular thermodynamic model describing the micellization process in solvent mixtures (R. Nagarajan and C.-C. Wang, Langmuir 16 (2000) 5242). The structural and thermodynamic characterization of the micelles agreed with the prediction of a dissymmetric solvation of the surfactant entity: the hydrocarbon chain was surrounded only by DMSO while the polar head was surrounded only by water. The decrease in the ionization degree was due to the condensation of the counterions and was definitely linked to the geometrical characteristics of the aggregates and by no means to the CMC or salinity. This multi-technique study provides new insight into the role of solvation in micellization and the reason for the decrease in ionization degree, emphasizing the dissymmetric solvation of the chain by DMSO and the head by water. This is the first time that, for a given surfactant in solvent mixtures, micellization is described using combined analysis from molecular to macroscopic scale.

Micrometeorological methods and ecosystem-scale energy and mass flux density measurements have become increasingly important in soil, agricultural, and environmental sciences. For many scientists without formal training in atmospheric science, these techniques are relatively inaccessible. Eddy cov...

.... Species richness is often positively correlated with human population density at broad scales, but this correlation could also be caused by unequal sampling effort leading to higher species tallies...

We present a computationally efficient approach to perform large-scale all-electron density functional theory calculations by enriching the classical finite element basis with compactly supported atom-centered numerical basis functions that are constructed from the solution of the Kohn-Sham (KS) problem for single atoms. We term these numerical basis functions as enrichment functions, and the resultant basis as the enriched finite element basis. The enrichment functions are compactly supported through the use of smooth cutoff functions, which enhances the conditioning and maintains the locality of the basis. The integrals involved in the evaluation of the discrete KS Hamiltonian and overlap matrix in the enriched finite element basis are computed using an adaptive quadrature grid based on the characteristics of enrichment functions. Further, we propose an efficient scheme to invert the overlap matrix by using a block-wise matrix inversion in conjunction with special reduced-order quadrature rules to transform...

In astronomical applications of machine learning, the distribution of objects used for building a model is often different from the distribution of the objects the model is later applied to. This is known as sample selection bias, which is a major challenge for statistical inference as one can no longer assume that the labeled training data are representative. To address this issue, one can re-weight the labeled training patterns to match the distribution of unlabeled data that are available already in the training phase. There are many examples in practice where this strategy yielded good results, but estimating the weights reliably from a finite sample is challenging. We consider an efficient nearest neighbor density ratio estimator that can exploit large samples to increase the accuracy of the weight estimates. To solve the problem of choosing the right neighborhood size, we propose to use cross-validation on a model selection criterion that is unbiased under covariate shift. The resulting algorithm is our method of choice for density ratio estimation when the feature space dimensionality is small and sample sizes are large. The approach is simple and, because of the model selection, robust. We empirically find that it is on a par with established kernel-based methods on relatively small regression benchmark datasets. However, when applied to large-scale photometric redshift estimation, our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art.

We study scaling behavior of a chiral order parameter performing a simulation of two-flavor QCD with improved Wilson quarks. It has been shown that the scaling behavior of the chiral order parameter defined by a Ward-Takahashi identity agrees with the scaling function of the three-dimensional O(4) spin model at zero chemical potential. We extend the scaling study to finite density QCD. Calculating derivatives of the chiral order parameter with respect to the chemical potential in two-flavor QCD, the scaling property of chiral phase transition is discussed in the low density region. We moreover calculate the curvature of the phase boundary of the chirl phase transition in the temperature and chemical potential plane assuming the O(4) scaling relation.

Using high-speed scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), we perform a full mapping of the quasiparticle density of states (DOS) in single crystals of Bi{sub 2-x}Pb{sub x}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}0{sub 8+{delta}}. The measurements carried out at 5 K showed a complex spatial pattern of important variations of the local DOS on the nanometer scale. Superconducting areas, characterized by a well-pronounced superconducting gap, are coexisting with regions of a peakless gap structure which we attribute to the pseudogap. Within the large superconducting regions, the spectra reveal strong peak/dip/hump signatures, identical to the pristine Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}0{sub 8+{delta}} case. On the contrary, in very small superconducting regions this fine structure is attenuated. Such a behavior of the local DOS suggests that the peak/dip/hump fine structure is not only a consequence of the superconducting state, but is also directly related to the scale of the phase coherence. The role of Bi-Pb substitutional disorder is discussed. (orig.)

We describe and review how the scaling of printed energy technologies not only requires scaling of the input materials but also the machinery used in the processes. The general consensus that ultrafast processing of technologies with large energy capacity can only be realized using roll-to-roll m......We describe and review how the scaling of printed energy technologies not only requires scaling of the input materials but also the machinery used in the processes. The general consensus that ultrafast processing of technologies with large energy capacity can only be realized using roll...

The stability of alpha helices is important in protein folding, bioinspired materials design, and controls many biological properties under physiological and disease conditions. Here we show that a naturally favored alpha helix length of 9 to 17 amino acids exists at which the propensity towards the formation of this secondary structure is maximized. We use a combination of thermodynamical analysis, well-tempered metadynamics molecular simulation and statistical analyses of experimental alpha helix length distributions and find that the favored alpha helix length is caused by a competition between alpha helix folding, unfolding into a random coil and formation of higher-order tertiary structures. The theoretical result is suggested to be used to explain the statistical distribution of the length of alpha helices observed in natural protein structures. Our study provides mechanistic insight into fundamental controlling parameters in alpha helix structure formation and potentially other biopolymers or synthetic materials. The result advances our fundamental understanding of size effects in the stability of protein structures and may enable the design of de novo alpha-helical protein materials.

We used the Transfer-Integral method to compute, with an uncertainty smaller than 5%, the six fundamental characteristic exponents of two dynamical models for DNA thermal denaturation and investigate the validity of the scaling laws. Doubts concerning this point arise because the investigated systems (i) have a divergent internal length, (ii) are described by a divergent order parameter, (iii) are of dimension 1. We found that the assumption that the free energy can be described by a single homogeneous function is robust, despite the divergence of the order parameter, so that Rushbrooke's and Widom's identities are valid relations. Josephson's identity is instead not satisfied. This is probably due to the divergence of the internal length, which invalidates the assumption that the correlation length is solely responsible for singular contributions to thermodynamic quantities. Fisher's identity is even wronger. We showed that this is due to the d=1 dimensionality and obtained an alternative law, which is well ...

The TiO2 nanorod arrays with the length of 70 nm, the diameter of 20 nm, and the areal density of 1000 μm-2 were firstly prepared by the hydrothermal method using the aqueous grown solution of 38 mM titanium isopropoxide and 6 M hydrochloric acid at 170 °C for 60 min. Over-500 nm-thickness CH3NH3PbI3-xBrx absorber layers were successfully obtained by sequential deposition routes using 1.7 M PbI2·DMSO complex precursor solution and 0.465 M isopropanol solution of the methylammonium halide mixture with the molar ratio of CH3NH3I/CH3NH3Br=85/15. The perovskite solar cells based on the TiO2 nanorod array and 560 nm-thickness CH3NH3PbI3-xBrx absorber layer exhibited the best photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.93%, while the corresponding planar perovskite solar cells without the TiO2 nanorod array and with 530 nm-thickness CH3NH3PbI3-xBrx absorber layer gave the best PCE of 12.82% at the relative humidity of 50-54%.

Most next-generation Li-ion battery chemistries require a functioning lithium metal (Li) anode. However, its application in secondary batteries has been inhibited because of uncontrollable dendrite growth during cycling. Mechanical suppression of dendrite growth through solid polymer electrolytes (SPE) or through robust separators has shown the most potential for alleviating this problem. Studies of the mechanical behavior of Li at any lengthscale and temperature are virtually non-existent because of its extreme reactivity, which renders sample preparation, transfer, microstructure characterization and mechanical testing prohibitively challenging. We conduct nano-mechanical experiments in an in-situ Scanning Electron Microscope and show that micron-sized Li attains extremely high strengths of 105 MPa at room temperature and of 35MPa at 90$^\\circ$C. We demonstrate that single crystalline Li exhibits a power-law size-effect at the micron- and sub-micron lengthscales, with the strengthening exponent of -0.68 a...

We have studied the mixed network former effect on the dynamics of lithium ions in borotellurite glasses in wide composition and temperature ranges. The lengthscales of ion dynamics, such as characteristic mean square displacement and spatial extent of sub-diffusive motion of lithium ions have been determined from the ac conductivity and dielectric spectra, respectively, in the framework of linear response theory. The relative concentrations of different network structural units have been determined from the deconvolution of the FTIR spectra. A direct correlation between the ion dynamics and the characteristic lengthscales and the relative concentration of BO{sub 4} units has been established for different compositions of the borotellurite glasses.

Full Text Available Passive nets are currently among the most important fishing gears largely used along the Mediterranean coasts by the small scale fisheries sector. The fishing effort exerted by this sector is strongly correlated with net dimensions. Therefore, the use of passive nets is worldwide managed by defining net length and net drop. The EC Reg. 1967/2006 reports that the length of bottom-set and drifting nets may be also defined considering their weight or volume; however, no practical suggestions for fisheries inspectors are yet available. Consequently, even if such technical measures are reasonable from a theoretical viewpoint, they are hardly suitable as a management tool, due to the difficulties in harbour control. The overall objective of this paper is to provide a quick methodological approach for the gross estimation of passive net length (by net type on the basis of net volume. The final goal is to support fisheries managers with suitable advice for enforcement and control purposes. The results obtained are important for the management of the fishing effort exerted by small scale fisheries. The methodology developed in this study should be considered as a first attempt to tackle the tangled problem of net length estimation that can be easily applied in other fisheries and areas in order to improve the precision of the models developed herein.

Full Text Available Passive nets are currently among the most important fishing gears largely used along the Mediterranean coasts by the small scale fisheries sector. The fishing effort exerted by this sector is strongly correlated with net dimensions. Therefore, the use of passive nets is worldwide managed by defining net length and net drop. The EC Reg. 1967/2006 reports that the length of bottom-set and drifting nets may be also defined considering their weight or volume; however, no practical suggestions for fisheries inspectors are yet available. Consequently, even if such technical measures are reasonable from a theoretical viewpoint, they are hardly suitable as a management tool, due to the difficulties in harbour control. The overall objective of this paper is to provide a quick methodological approach for the gross estimation of passive net length (by net type on the basis of net volume. The final goal is to support fisheries managers with suitable advice for enforcement and control purposes. The results obtained are important for the management of the fishing effort exerted by small scale fisheries. The methodology developed in this study should be considered as a first attempt to tackle the tangled problem of net length estimation that can be easily applied in other fisheries and areas in order to improve the precision of the models developed herein.

polymer matrix composite materials display quite complex deformation and failure behavior under ballistic/blast impact loading conditions. This complexity is generally attributed to a number of factors such as (a) hierarchical/multi-lengthscale architecture of the material microstructure; (b) nonlinear, rate-dependent and often pressure-sensitive mechanical response; and (c) the interplay of various intrinsic phenomena and processes such as fiber twisting, interfiber friction/sliding, etc. Material models currently employed in the computational engineering

invariance: Iq(f) ~ f-?(q) , ?(q) is the scaling exponent. This allows to characterize the scaling behavior of a process: fractal or multifractal with intermittent properties. For q = 2, the Hilbert spectrum is defined. In this work, The data are collected at the University site of Guadeloupe, an island in the West Indies, located at 16°15 N latitude 60°30 W longitude. Our measurements sampled at 1 Hz were performed during one year period. The analyzed data present a power spectral density E(f) displaying a power law of the form E(f) ~ f-β with 1.6 ˜ β ˜ 2.2 for frequencies f ˜ 0.1 Hz, corresponding to time scales T × 10 s. Furthermore, global solar radiation data possesses multifractal properties. For comparison, other multifractal analysis techniques such as structure functions, MDFA, wavelet leaders are also used. This preliminary work set the basis for further investigation dedicated to simulate and forecast a sequence of solar energy fluctuation under different meteorological conditions, in the multifractal framework.

Full Text Available Tree rings provide information about the climatic conditions during the growing season by recording them in different anatomical features, such as Intra-Annual Density Fluctuations (IADFs. IADFs are intra-annual changes of wood density appearing as latewood-like cells within earlywood, or earlywood-like cells within latewood. The occurrence of IADFs is dependent on the age and size of the tree, and it is triggered by climatic drivers. The variations of IADF frequency of different species and their dependence on climate across a wide geographical range have still to be explored. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of age, tree-ring width and climate on IADF formation and frequency at a regional scale across the Mediterranean Basin in Pinus halepensis Mill., Pinus pinaster Ait. and Pinus pinea L. The analyzed tree-ring network was composed of P. pinea trees growing at 11 sites (2 in Italy, 4 in Spain and 4 in Portugal, P. pinaster from 19 sites (2 in Italy, 13 in Spain and 4 in Portugal, and P. halepensis from 38 sites in Spain. The correlations between IADF frequency and monthly minimum, mean and maximum temperatures, as well as between IADF frequency and total precipitation, were analyzed. A significant negative relationship between IADF frequency and tree-ring age was found for the three Mediterranean pines. Moreover, IADFs were more frequent in wider rings than in narrower ones, although the widest rings showed a reduced IADF frequency. Wet conditions during late summer/early autumn triggered the formation of IADFs in the three species. Our results suggest the existence of a common climatic driver for the formation of IADFs in Mediterranean pines, highlighting the potential use of IADF frequency as a proxy for climate reconstructions with geographical resolution.

Kesterite Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) is a sustainable material for thin-film photovoltaics with device efficiencies greater than 12% have been demonstrated. Despite similar crystal structure and polycrystalline film microstructures, there is widespread evidence for larger-amplitude potential and bandgap fluctuations in CZTS than in the analogous Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) chalcopyrite material. This disorder is believed to account for a sizable part of the larger open-circuit voltage (VOC) deficit in CZTS devices, yet the detailed origins and lengthscales of these fluctuations have not been fully elucidated. Herein, we present a transmission electron microscopy study focusing on composition variation within bulk multicrystals of CZTS grown by the travelling heater method (THM). In these slow-cooled, solution grown crystals we find direct evidence for spatial composition fluctuations of amplitude <1 at.% (~5 x 1020 cm-3) and thus, explainable by point defects. However, rather than being homogeneously-distributed we find a characteristic 20 nm lengthscale for these fluctuations, which sets a definite lengthscale for band gap and potential fluctuations. At Σ3 grain boundaries, we find no evidence of composition variation compared to the bulk. The finding highlights such variations reported at grain boundaries in polycrystalline thin-films are direct consequences of processing methods and not intrinsic properties of CZTS itself.

Full Text Available We present small scale variations of electron number densities and particle charge number densities measured in situ in the presence of polar mesosphere summer echoes. It turns out that the small scale fluctuations of electrons and negatively charged particles show a strong anticorrelation down to the smallest scales observed. Comparing these small scale structures with the simultaneously measured radar signal to noise profile, we find that the radar profile is well described by the power spectral density of both electrons and charged particles at the radar half wavelength (=the Bragg scale. Finally, we consider the shape of the power spectra of the observed plasma fluctuations and find that both charged particles and electrons show spectra that can be explained in terms of either neutral air turbulence acting on the distribution of a low diffusivity tracer or the fossil remnants of a formerly active turbulent region. All these results are consistent with the theoretical ideas by Rapp and Lübken (2003 suggesting that PMSE can be explained by a combination of active and fossil neutral air turbulence acting on the large and heavy charged aerosol particles which are subsequently mirrored in the electron number density distribution that becomes visible to a VHF radar when small scale fluctuations are present.

The Renyi, Shannon and Fisher spreading lengths of the classical or hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials, which are quantifiers of their distribution all over the orthogonality interval, are defined and investigated. These information-theoretic measures of the associated Rakhmanov probability density, which are direct measures of the polynomial spreading in the sense of having the same units as the variable, share interesting properties: invariance under translations and reflections, linear scaling and vanishing in the limit that the variable tends towards a given definite value. The expressions of the Renyi and Fisher lengths for the Hermite polynomials are computed in terms of the polynomial degree. The combinatorial multivariable Bell polynomials, which are shown to characterize the finite power of an arbitrary polynomial, play a relevant role for the computation of these information-theoretic lengths. Indeed these polynomials allow us to design an error-free computing approach for the entropic moments (w...

We consider supersymmetric configurations in Type IIB supergravity obtained by the beackreaction of fundamental strings ending on a stack of D3-branes and smeared uniformly in the three spatial directions along the D3-branes. These automatically include a distribution of D5-brane baryon vertices necessary to soak up string charge. The backgrounds are static, preserving eight supersymmetries, an SO(5) global symmetry and symmetry under spatial translations and rotations. We obtain the most general BPS configurations consistent with the symmetries. We show that the solutions to the Type IIB field equations are completely specified by a single function (the dilaton) satisfying a Poisson-like equation in two dimensions. We further find that the equation admits a class of solutions displaying Lifshitz-like scaling with dynamical critical exponent z=7. The equations also admit an asymptotically AdS_5 x S^5 solution deformed by the presence of backreacted string sources that yield a uniform density of heavy quarks i...

New arguments supporting the reality of large-scale fluctuations in the density of the visible matter in deep galaxy surveys are presented. A statistical analysis of the radial distributions of galaxies in the COSMOS and HDF-N deep fields is presented. Independent spectral and photometric surveys exist for each field, carried out in different wavelength ranges and using different observing methods. Catalogs of photometric redshifts in the optical (COSMOS-Zphot) and infrared (UltraVISTA) were used for the COSMOS field in the redshift interval $0.1 < z < 3.5$, as well as the zCOSMOS (10kZ) spectroscopic survey and the XMM-COSMOS and ALHAMBRA-F4 photometric redshift surveys. The HDFN-Zphot and ALHAMBRA-F5 catalogs of photometric redshifts were used for the HDF-N field. The Pearson correlation coefficient for the fluctuations in the numbers of galaxies obtained for independent surveys of the same deep field reaches $R = 0.70 \\pm 0.16$. The presence of this positive correlation supports the reality of fluctu...

Sheared axial flows are utilized by the ZaP Flow Z-Pinch Experiment to stabilize MHD instabilities. The pinches formed are 50 cm long with radii ranging from 0.3 to 1.0 cm. The plasma is generated in a coaxial acceleration region, similar to a Marshall gun, which provides a steady supply of plasma for approximately 100 us. The power to the plasma is partially decoupled between the acceleration and pinch assembly regions through the use of separate power supplies. Adiabatic scaling of the Bennett relation gives targets for future devices to reach high-energy density conditions or fusion reactors. The applicability of an adiabatic assumption is explored and work is done experimentally to clarify the plasma compression process, which may be more generally polytropic. The device is capable of a much larger parameter space than previous machine iterations, allowing flexibility in the initial conditions of the compression process to preserve stability. This work is supported by DoE FES and NNSA.

Anodic oxide fabricated by anodizing has been widely used for nanostructural engineering, but the nanomorphology is limited to only two oxides: anodic barrier and porous oxides. Therefore, the discovery of an additional anodic oxide with a unique nanofeature would expand the applicability of anodizing. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of a third-generation anodic oxide, specifically, anodic alumina nanofibers, by anodizing in a new electrolyte, pyrophosphoric acid. Ultra-high density single nanometer-scale anodic alumina nanofibers (1010 nanofibers/cm2) consisting of an amorphous, pure aluminum oxide were successfully fabricated via pyrophosphoric acid anodizing. The nanomorphologies of the anodic nanofibers can be controlled by the electrochemical conditions. Anodic tungsten oxide nanofibers can also be fabricated by pyrophosphoric acid anodizing. The aluminum surface covered by the anodic alumina nanofibers exhibited ultra-fast superhydrophilic behavior, with a contact angle of less than 1°, within 1 second. Such ultra-narrow nanofibers can be used for various nanoapplications including catalysts, wettability control, and electronic devices.

The blends prepared by incorporation of carbon black (CB) or graphite powder (GP) inHto high-density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix have been novel and extensively applied polymeric positive temperature coefficient (PTC) composites. A phenomenological model was proposed on the basis of the GEM equation and the dilution effect of filler volume fraction due to the thermal volume expansion of the polymer matrix. Accordingly, the contribution of the thermal expansion of the matrix to the jump-like PTC transition of the composites was quantitatively estimated and a mechanical explanation was given. It was proved that the contribution of the volume expansion to PTC effect decreased for HDPE/CB composites crosslinked through electron-beam irradiation. Furthermore, the influences of the filler content, temperature and crosslinking on the self-heating behavior as well as the nonlinear conduction characteristics at electrical-thermal equilibrium state were examined. Based on the electric-field and initial resistivity dependence of the self-heating temperature and resistance dependence of the critical field, the mechanisms of the self-heating of the polymeric PTC materials were evaluated. The intrinsic relations between macroscopic electrical properties and microscopic percolation network at electrical-thermal equilibrium state were discussed according to the scaling relationship between the self-heating critical parameter and the conductivity of materials.

The particle-hole Density Matrix Renormalization Group (p-h DMRG) method is discussed as a possible new approach to large-scale nuclear shell-model calculations. Following a general description of the method, we apply it to a class of problems involving many identical nucleons constrained to move in a single large j-shell and to interact via a pairing plus quadrupole interaction. A single-particle term that splits the shell into degenerate doublets is included so as to accommodate the physics of a Fermi surface in the problem. We apply the p-h DMRG method to this test problem for two $j$ values, one for which the shell model can be solved exactly and one for which the size of the hamiltonian is much too large for exact treatment. In the former case, the method is able to reproduce the exact results for the ground state energy, the energies of low-lying excited states, and other observables with extreme precision. In the latter case, the results exhibit rapid exponential convergence, suggesting the great promi...

Full Text Available The Weibull probability distribution has been widely applied to characterize wind speeds for wind energy resources. Wind power generation modeling is different, however, due in particular to power curve limitations, wind turbine control methods, and transmission system operation requirements. These differences are even greater for aggregated wind power generation in power systems with high wind penetration. Consequently, models based on one-Weibull component can provide poor characterizations for aggregated wind power generation. With this aim, the present paper focuses on discussing Weibull mixtures to characterize the probability density function (PDF for aggregated wind power generation. PDFs of wind power data are firstly classified attending to hourly and seasonal patterns. The selection of the number of components in the mixture is analyzed through two well-known different criteria: the Akaike information criterion (AIC and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC. Finally, the optimal number of Weibull components for maximum likelihood is explored for the defined patterns, including the estimated weight, scale, and shape parameters. Results show that multi-Weibull models are more suitable to characterize aggregated wind power data due to the impact of distributed generation, variety of wind speed values and wind power curtailment.

In this paper, we demonstrate and thoroughly analyze the activation volumetric properties of selected liquid crystals in the nematic and crystalline E phases in comparison with those reported for glass-forming liquids. In the analysis, we have employed and evaluated two entropic models (based on either total or configurational entropies) to describe the longitudinal relaxation times of the liquid crystals in the densityscaling regime. In this study, we have also exploited two equations of state: volumetric and activation volumetric ones. As a result, we have established that the activation volumetric properties of the selected liquid crystals are quite opposite to such typical properties of glass-forming materials, i.e., the activation volume decreases and the isothermal bulk modulus increases when a liquid crystal is isothermally compressed. Using the model based on the configurational entropy, we suggest that the increasing pressure dependences of the activation volume in isothermal conditions and the negative curvature of the pressure dependences of isothermal longitudinal relaxation times can be related to the formation of antiparallel doublets in the examined liquid crystals. A similar pressure effect on relaxation dynamics may be also observed for other material groups in case of systems, the molecules of which form some supramolecular structures. PMID:28181530

Scaling relations describing the electromagnetic behaviour of coated conductors (CCs) greatly simplify the design of REBCO-based devices. The performance of REBCO CCs is strongly influenced by fabrication route, conductor architecture and materials, and these parameters vary from one manufacturer to the others. In the present work we have examined the critical surface for the current density, Jc(T,B,θ ), of coated conductors from six different manufacturers: American Superconductor Co. (US), Bruker HTS GmbH (Germany), Fujikura Ltd. (Japan), SuNAM Co. Ltd. (Korea), SuperOx ZAO (Russia) and SuperPower Inc. (US). Electrical transport and magnetic measurements were performed at temperatures between 4.2 K and 77 K and in magnetic field up to 19 T. Experiments were conducted at three different orientations of the field with respect to the crystallographic c-axis of the REBCO layer, θ = 0deg , 45deg and 90deg , in order to probe the angular anisotropy of Jc. In spite of the large variability of CCs performance, ...

The GOCE gravity field is globally homogeneous at the resolution of about 80km or better allowing for the first time to identify tectonic structures at continental scale. The large scale structures are presumably controlled by the rheology of the underlying crust down to the base of the lithosphere. Seismic tomography identifies the presence of the deep lithosphere roots by increased velocity. The joint analysis of the tomography results and the GOCE gravity reveals that at global scale the two data have some common patterns. The correlations are enhanced by applying geodynamic plate reconstructions to the GOCE gravity field and to the tomography models which places today's observed fields at the Gondwana pre-breakup position. There are several examples for which it is found that the deep lithospheric roots, as those found below cratons, control the position of the positive gravity values outboard of the deep roots. This could be explained by the deep lithospheric roots focusing asthenospheric upwelling outboard of the root protecting the overlying craton from magmatic intrusions. Over several of the deep roots the gravity is systematically negative, which could be due to a compositional effect, with deep roots of increased velocity having reduced density. The study is carried out globally, with focus on the African and South American continents. The background for the study can be found in the following publications where the techniques which have been used are described: Braitenberg, C., Mariani, P. and De Min, A. (2013). The European Alps and nearby orogenic belts sensed by GOCE, Boll. Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata, 54(4), 321-334. doi:10.4430/bgta0105 Braitenberg, C. and Mariani, P. (2015). Geological implications from complete Gondwana GOCE-products reconstructions and link to lithospheric roots. Proceedings of 5th International GOCE User Workshop, 25 - 28 November 2014. Braitenberg, C. (2015). Exploration of tectonic structures with GOCE in

Gravity is believed to be important on multiple physical scales in molecular clouds. However, quantitative constraints on gravity are still lacking. We derive an analytical formula which provides estimates on multi-scale gravitational energy distribution using the observed surface density PDF. Our analytical formalism also enables one to convert the observed column density PDF into an estimated volume density PDF, and to obtain average radial profile $\\rho(r)$. For a region with $N_{\\rm col} \\sim N^{-\\gamma_{\\rm N}}$, the gravitational energy spectra is $E_{\\rm p}(k)\\sim k^{-4(1 - 1/\\gamma_{\\rm N})}$. We apply the formula to observations of molecular clouds, and find that a scaling index of $-2$ of the surface density PDF implies that $\\rho \\sim r^{-2}$ and $E_{\\rm p}(k) \\sim k^{-2}$. This indicates that gravity can act effectively against turbulence over a multitude of physical scales. This is the critical scaling index which divides molecular clouds into two categories: clouds like Orion and Ophiuchus have ...

Rating scales are a standard measurement tool in psychological research. However, research has suggested that the cognitive burden involved in maintaining the criteria used to parcel subjective evidence into ratings introduces "decision noise" and affects estimates of performance in the underlying task. There has been debate over whether…

Pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) are the most lethal threat from volcanoes. While there are two main types of PDCs (fully turbulent, fully dilute pyroclastic surges and more concentrated pyroclastic flows encompassing non-turbulent to turbulent transport) pyroclastic flows, which are the subject of the present study, are far more complex than dilute pyroclastic surges and remain the least understood type despite their far greater hazard, greater runout length and ability to transport vast quantities of material across the Earth's surface. Here we present large-scale experiments of natural volcanic material and gas in order to provide the missing quantitative view of the internal structure and gas-particle transport mechanisms in pyroclastic flows. We show that the outer flow structure with head, body and wake regions broadly resembles current PDC analogues of dilute gravity currents. However, the internal structure, in which lower levels consist of a concentrated granular fluid and upper levels are more dilute, contrasts significantly with the internal structure of fully dilute gravity currents. This bipartite vertical structure shows strong analogy to current conceptual models of high-density turbidity currents, which are responsible for the distribution of coarse sediment in marine basins and of great interest to the hydrocarbon industry. The lower concentrated and non-turbulent levels of the PDC (granular-fluid basal flow) act as a fast-flowing carrier for the more dilute and turbulent upper levels of the current (ash-cloud surge). Strong kinematic coupling between these flow parts reduces viscous dissipation and entrainment of ambient air into the lower part of the ash-cloud surge. This leads to a state of forced super-criticality whereby fast and destructive PDCs can endure even at large distances from volcanoes. Importantly, the basal flow/ash-cloud surge coupling yields a characteristically smooth rheological boundary across the non

Composition dependence of four-point dynamic susceptibilities, overlap functions, and other dynamic heterogeneity (DH) parameters have been investigated by using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations for aqueous solutions of the ionic liquid (IL), 1-octyl-3-methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Omim][BF4]) covering the pure-to-pure range. Upon addition of water in the IL, the DH time scales become faster and the four-point dynamic susceptibility time scale softens. Evidences for jump motions for both water and ions have been found from the simulated single particle displacements that show strong deviation from Gaussian distribution. Estimated dynamic correlation length for water reflects effects of IL, whereas those for ions remain largely insensitive to the mixture composition. Simulated structural aspects and DH time scales provide microscopic explanations to the existing experimental observations from time-resolved fluorescence and Kerr spectroscopic measurements.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Thellungiella halophila (also known as Thellungiella salsuginea is a model halophyte with a small plant size, short life cycle, and small genome. It easily undergoes genetic transformation by the floral dipping method used with its close relative, Arabidopsis thaliana. Thellungiella genes exhibit high sequence identity (approximately 90% at the cDNA level with Arabidopsis genes. Furthermore, Thellungiella not only shows tolerance to extreme salinity stress, but also to chilling, freezing, and ozone stress, supporting the use of Thellungiella as a good genomic resource in studies of abiotic stress tolerance. Results We constructed a full-length enriched Thellungiella (Shan Dong ecotype cDNA library from various tissues and whole plants subjected to environmental stresses, including high salinity, chilling, freezing, and abscisic acid treatment. We randomly selected about 20 000 clones and sequenced them from both ends to obtain a total of 35 171 sequences. CAP3 software was used to assemble the sequences and cluster them into 9569 nonredundant cDNA groups. We named these cDNAs "RTFL" (RIKEN Thellungiella Full-Length cDNAs. Information on functional domains and Gene Ontology (GO terms for the RTFL cDNAs were obtained using InterPro. The 8289 genes assigned to InterPro IDs were classified according to the GO terms using Plant GO Slim. Categorical comparison between the whole Arabidopsis genome and Thellungiella genes showing low identity to Arabidopsis genes revealed that the population of Thellungiella transport genes is approximately 1.5 times the size of the corresponding Arabidopsis genes. This suggests that these genes regulate a unique ion transportation system in Thellungiella. Conclusion As the number of Thellungiella halophila (Thellungiella salsuginea expressed sequence tags (ESTs was 9388 in July 2008, the number of ESTs has increased to approximately four times the original value as a result of this effort. Our

Stomata on plant leaves are key traits in the regulation of terrestrial fluxes of water and carbon. The basic morphology of stomata consists of a diffusion pore and two guard cells that regulate the exchange of CO2 and water vapour between the leaf interior and the atmosphere. This morphology is common to nearly all land plants, yet stomatal size (defined as the area of the guard cell pair) and stomatal density (the number of stomata per unit area) range over three orders of magnitude across species. Evolution of stomatal sizes and densities is driven by selection pressure on the anatomical maximum stomatal conductance (gsmax), which determines the operational range of leaf gas exchange. Despite the importance of stomata traits for regulating leaf gas exchange, a quantitative understanding of the relation between adaptation of gsmax and the underlying co-evolution of stomatal sizes and densities is still lacking. Here we develop a theoretical framework for a scaling relationship between stomatal sizes and densities within the constraints set by the allocation of epidermal space and stomatal gas exchange. Our theory predicts an optimal scaling relationship that maximizes gsmax and minimizes epidermal space allocation to stomata. We test whether stomatal sizes and densities reflect this optimal scaling with a global compilation of stomatal trait data on 923 species reflecting most major clades. Our results show optimal scaling between stomatal sizes and densities across all species in the compiled data set. Our results also show optimal stomatal scaling across angiosperm species, but not across gymnosperm and fern species. We propose that the evolutionary flexibility of angiosperms to adjust stomatal sizes underlies their optimal allocation of leaf epidermal space to gas exchange.

We derive direct representations of the scaling functions of the 3d O(4) model which are relevant for comparisons to other models, in particular QCD. This is done in terms of expansions in the scaling variable z= t/h^{1/Delta}. The expansions around z=0 and the corresponding asymptotic ones for z --> +- infinity overlap such that no interpolation is needed. The expansion coefficients are determined numerically from the data of a previous high statistics simulation of the O(4) model on a three-dimensional lattice of linear extension L=120. From the scaling function of the magnetization we calculate the leading asymptotic coefficients of the scaling function of the free energy density. As a result we obtain the universal amplitude ratio A^+/A^-=1.84(4) for the specific heat. Comparing the scaling function of the energy density to the data we find the non-singular part of the energy density epsilon_{ns}(T) with high precision and at the same time excellent scaling properties.

Full Text Available In this note, inequalities for length biased and the original residual life function and equilibrium distribution function with monotone hazard rate and mean residual life functions are derived. We also obtain estimates of the length biased probability density function and hazard function under random censoring. Finally, the Bayesian exponential reliability estimate under length biased sampling using a conjugate prior for the scale parameter is given.

In this paper, based on the effective intermolecular potential with well separated density and configuration contributions and the definition of the isothermal bulk modulus, we derive two similar equations of state dedicated to describe volumetric data of supercooled liquids studied in the extremely wide pressure range related to the density range, which is extremely wide in comparison with the experimental range reached so far in pressure-volume-temperature measurements of glass-forming liquids. Both the equations comply with the generalized densityscaling law of molecular dynamics versus h(ρ)/T at different densities ρ and temperatures T, where the scaling exponent can be in general only a density function γ(ρ) = d ln h/d ln ρ as recently argued by the theory of isomorphs. We successfully verify these equations of state by using data obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of the Kob-Andersen binary Lennard-Jones liquid. As a very important result, we find that the one-parameter density function h(ρ) analytically formulated in the case of this prototypical model of supercooled liquid, which implies the one-parameter density function γ(ρ), is able to scale the structural relaxation times with the value of this function parameter determined by fitting the volumetric simulation data to the equations of state. We also show that these equations of state properly describe the pressure dependences of the isothermal bulk modulus and the configurational isothermal bulk modulus in the extremely wide pressure range investigated by the computer simulations. Moreover, we discuss the possible forms of the density functions h(ρ) and γ(ρ) for real glass formers, which are suggested to be different from those valid for the model of supercooled liquid based on the Lennard-Jones intermolecular potential.

Measurements of critical temperature T{sub c} in superconducting YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 6.9} films with reduced long-range structural order show the validity of the empirical scaling relation {delta}T{sub c}{proportional_to}r{sub c}{sup -2} between disorder-induced reduction of T{sub c} and structural coherence length r{sub c} in the ab-plane. This result is quantitatively explained by the disorder-induced confinement of the charge carriers within each ordered domain of size r{sub c}. Our analysis of the data based on this picture enables us to precisely determine the Ginzburg-Landau superconducting coherence length in the ab-plane, {xi}{sub ab} = 1.41 {+-} 0.04 nm. (orig.)

Anthropogenic development has great potential to affect fragile desert environments. Large-scale development of renewable energy infrastructure is planned for many desert ecosystems. Development plans should account for anthropogenic effects to distributions and abundance of rare or sensitive wildlife; however, baseline data on abundance and distribution of such wildlife are often lacking. We surveyed for predatory birds in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts of southern California, USA, in an area designated for protection under the “Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan”, to determine how these birds are distributed across the landscape and how this distribution is affected by existing development. We developed species-specific models of resight probability to adjust estimates of abundance and density of each individual common species. Second, we developed combined-species models of resight probability for common and rare species so that we could make use of sparse data on the latter. We determined that many common species, such as red-tailed hawks, loggerhead shrikes, and especially common ravens, are associated with human development and likely subsidized by human activity. Species-specific and combined-species models of resight probability performed similarly, although the former model type provided higher quality information. Comparing abundance estimates with past surveys in the Mojave Desert suggests numbers of predatory birds associated with human development have increased while other sensitive species not associated with development have decreased. This approach gave us information beyond what we would have collected by focusing either on common or rare species, thus it provides a low-cost framework for others conducting surveys in similar desert environments outside of California.

For the hyperthermophilic and barophilic methanarchaeon Methanococcus jannaschii, we have developed a medium and protocols for reactor-scale cultivation that improved the final cell yield per liter from approximately 0.5 to approximately 7.5 g of packed wet cells ( approximately 1.8 g dry cell mass) under autotrophic growth conditions and to approximately 8.5 g of packed wet cells ( approximately 2 g dry cell mass) with yeast extract (2 g liter(-1)) and tryptone (2 g liter(-1)) as medium supplements. For growth in a sealed bottle it was necessary to add Se to the medium, and a level of 2 microM for added Se gave the highest final cell yield. In a reactor M. jannaschii grew without added Se in the medium; it is plausible that the cells received Se as a contaminant from the reactor vessel and the H(2)S supply. But, for the optimal performance of a reactor culture, an addition of Se to a final concentration of 50 to 100 microM was needed. Also, cell growth in a reactor culture was inhibited at much higher Se concentrations. These observations and the data from previous work with methanogen cell extracts (B. C. McBride and R. S. Wolfe, Biochemistry 10:4312-4317, 1971) suggested that from a continuously sparged reactor culture Se was lost in the exhaust gas as volatile selenides, and this loss raised the apparent required level of and tolerance for Se. In spite of having a proteinaceous cell wall, M. jannaschii withstood an impeller tip speed of 235.5 cms(-1), which was optimal for achieving high cell density and also was the higher limit for the tolerated shear rate. The organism secreted one or more acidic compounds, which lowered pH in cultures without pH control; this secretion continued even after cessation of growth.

Morphological quantification of the complex structure of hierarchical geomaterials is of great relevance for Earth science and environmental engineering, among others. To date, methods that quantify the 3D morphology on lengthscales ranging from a few tens of nanometers to several hun-dred nanometers have had limited success. We demonstrate, for the first time, that it is possible to go beyond visualization and to extract quantitative morphological information from X-ray images in the aforementioned lengthscales. As examples, two different hierarchical geomaterials exhibiting complex porous structures ranging from nanometer to macroscopic scale are studied: a flocculated clay water suspension and two hydrated cement pastes. We show that from a single projection image it is possible to perform a direct computation of the ultra-small angle-scattering spectra. The predictions matched very well the experimental data obtained by the best ultra-small angle-scattering experimental setups as observed for the cement paste. In this context, we demonstrate that the structure of flocculated clay suspension exhibit two well-distinct regimes of aggregation, a dense mass fractal aggregation at short distance and a more open structure at large distance, which can be generated by a 3D reaction limited cluster-cluster aggregation process. For the first time, a high-resolution 3D image of fibrillar cement paste cluster was obtained from limited angle nanotomography.

Fault populations on terrestrial planets exhibit a linear relationship between their length, L, and the maximum displacement, D, which implies a constant D/L ratio during fault growth. Although it is known that D/L ratios of faults are typically a few percent on Earth and 0.2-0.8% on Mars and Mercury, the D/L ratios of lunar faults are not well characterized. Quantifying the D/L ratios of faults on the Moon is, however, crucial for a better understanding of lunar tectonics, including for studies of the amount of global lunar contraction. Here, we use high-resolution digital terrain models to perform a topographic analysis of four lunar thrust faults - Simpelius-1, Morozov (S1), Fowler, and Racah X-1 - that range in length from 1.3 km to 15.4 km. First, we determine the along-strike variation of the vertical displacement from ≥ 20 topographic profiles across each fault. For measuring the vertical displacements, we use a method that is commonly applied to fault scarps on Earth and that does not require detrending of the profiles. The resulting profiles show that the displacement changes gradually along these faults' strike, with maximum vertical displacements ranging from 17 ± 2 m for Simpelius-1 to 192 ± 30 m for Racah X-1. Assuming a fault dip of 30° yields maximum total displacements (D) that are twice as large as the vertical displacements. The linear relationship between D and L supports the inference that lunar faults gradually accumulate displacement as they propagate laterally. For the faults we investigated, the D/L ratio is ∼2.3%, an order of magnitude higher than theoretical predictions for the Moon, but a value similar for faults on Earth. We also employ finite-element modeling and a Mohr circle stress analysis to investigate why many lunar thrust faults, including three of those studied here, form uphill-facing scarps. Our analysis shows that fault slip is preferentially initiated on planes that dip in the same direction as the topography, because

Full Text Available Abstract This paper distinguishes between two different scales of medium range order, MRO, in non-crystalline SiO2: (1 the first is ~0.4 to 0.5 nm and is obtained from the position of the first sharp diffraction peak, FSDP, in the X-ray diffraction structure factor, S(Q, and (2 the second is ~1 nm and is calculated from the FSDP full-width-at-half-maximum FWHM. Many-electron calculations yield Si–O third- and O–O fourth-nearest-neighbor bonding distances in the same 0.4–0.5 nm MRO regime. These derive from the availability of empty Si dπ orbitals for back-donation from occupied O pπ orbitals yielding narrow symmetry determined distributions of third neighbor Si–O, and fourth neighbor O–O distances. These are segments of six member rings contributing to connected six-member rings with ~1 nm lengthscale within the MRO regime. The unique properties of non-crystalline SiO2 are explained by the encapsulation of six-member ring clusters by five- and seven-member rings on average in a compliant hard-soft nano-scaled inhomogeneous network. This network structure minimizes macroscopic strain, reducing intrinsic bonding defects as well as defect precursors. This inhomogeneous CRN is enabling for applications including thermally grown ~1.5 nm SiO2 layers for Si field effect transistor devices to optical components with centimeter dimensions. There are qualitatively similar lengthscales in nano-crystalline HfO2 and phase separated Hf silicates based on the primitive unit cell, rather than a ring structure. Hf oxide dielectrics have recently been used as replacement dielectrics for a new generation of Si and Si/Ge devices heralding a transition into nano-scale circuits and systems on a Si chip.

Population densities of wildlife species tend to be correlated with resource productivity of habitats. However, wildlife density has been greatly modified by increasing human influences. For effective conservation, we must first identify the significant factors that affect wildlife density, and then determine the extent of the areas in which the factors should be managed. Here, we propose a protocol that accomplishes these two tasks. The main threats to wildlife are thought to be habitat alte...

In this work, the femtosecond laser pulse modification of surface is studied for aluminium (Al) and gold (Au) by use of two-temperature atomistic simulation. The results are obtained for various atomistic models with different scales: from pseudo-one-dimensional to full-scale three-dimensional simulation. The surface modification after laser irradiation can be caused by ablation and melting. For low energy laser pulses, the nanoscale ripples may be induced on a surface by melting without laser ablation. In this case, nanoscale changes of the surface are due to a splash of molten metal under temperature gradient. Laser ablation occurs at a higher pulse energy when a crater is formed on the surface. There are essential differences between Al ablation and Au ablation. In the first step of shock-wave induced ablation, swelling and void formation occur for both metals. However, the simulation of ablation in gold shows an additional athermal type of ablation that is associated with electron pressure relaxation. This type of ablation takes place at the surface layer, at a depth of several nanometers, and does not induce swelling.

In this paper,we propose an adaptive strategy based on the linear prediction of queue length to minimize congestion in Barabási-Albert (BA) scale-free networks.This strategy uses local knowledge of traffic conditions and allows nodes to be able to self-coordinate their accepting probability to the incoming packets.We show that the strategy can delay remarkably the onset of congestion and systems avoiding the congestion can benefit from hierarchical organization of accepting rates of nodes.Furthermore,with the increase of prediction orders,we achieve larger values for the critical load together with a smooth transition from free-flow to congestion.

A hybrid molecular-dynamics (MD) and finite-element simulation approach is used to study stress distributions in silicon/silicon-nitride nanopixels. The hybrid approach provides atomistic description near the interface and continuum description deep into the substrate, increasing the accessible lengthscales and greatly reducing the computational cost. The results of the hybrid simulation are in good agreement with full multimillion-atom MD simulations: atomic structures at the lattice-mismatched interface between amorphous silicon nitride and silicon induce inhomogeneous stress patterns in the substrate that cannot be reproduced by a continuum approach alone.

Parametric variation of independent variables which may affect the characteristics of bumpy torus plasma have identified those which have a significant effect on the plasma current, ion kinetic temperature, and plasma number density, and those which do not. Empirical power law correlations of the plasma current, and the ion kinetic temperature and number density were obtained as functions of potential applied to the midplane electrode rings, the background neutral gas pressure, and the magnetic field strength. Additional parameters studied included the type of gas, the polarity of the midplane electrode rings, the mode of plasma operation, and the method of measuring the plasma number density. No significant departures from the scaling laws appear to occur at the highest ion kinetic temperatures or number densities obtained to date.

Recent studies based on laboratory petrophysics and in particular EBSD-based calculations indicate material rock anisotropy for crustal rocks can possess significant low orders of symmetry. These symmetries based on elastic tensor calculations can range from hexagonal and orthorhombic down to monoclinic and triclinic. On the other hand, interpretation of field seismic data yield crustal anisotropy of fast- or slow-axis transverse isotropy (hexagonal) symmetry at best; identification of orthorhombic symmetry is barely possible. Seismic results are often limited to simple orientations of the symmetry axes, such as vertical (radial anisotropy) or horizontal (azimuthal anisotropy). The physical scales of earth anisotropic fabrics and of seismic waves affect the types of information that may be extracted from seismic signals. A seismic wave has inherent limits to resolving capabilities, usually measured as some percentage of its wavelength, λ. This wave will accumulate anisotropic signal in two ways based on its path through anisotropic media of physical size, L: (1) When the wave is much smaller than the anisotropic material (λ > L), the wave will not see details of the material but will respond to just the bulk average of the material. In the first case, the wave will be sensitive to large scale earth changes such as limbs of an antiformal mountain range. The accumulating anisotropic seismic signal can get complicated (e.g., shear wave splits of splits). In the second case, the wave is too large to see any fine detail, and the material can be represented by an equivalent "effective media" that produces the same seismic response. Geometrical structure is a factor that helps bridge the scales of rock CPO to lower resolution seismic signals. Local rock CPO can fill or be mapped into a structure that is large enough for a seismic wave to respond to. We use tensor representation of anisotropic elasticity to formulate a way to separate structural effects from local rock

Collimated plasma jets emerge in many classes of astrophysical objects and are of great interest to explore in the laboratory. In many cases, these astrophysical jets exist within a background magnetic field where the magnetic pressure approaches the plasma pressure. Recent experiments performed at the Jupiter Laser Facility utilized a custom-designed solenoid to generate the multi-tesla fields necessary to achieve proper magnetization of the plasma. Time-gated interferometry, Schlieren imaging, and proton radiography were used to characterize jet evolution and collimation under varying degrees of magnetization. Experimental results will be presented and discussed. This work is funded by the NNSA-DS and SC-OFES Joint Program in High-Energy-Density Laboratory Plasmas, grant number DE-NA0001840, by the National Laser User Facility Program, grant number DE-NA0000850, by the Predictive Sciences Academic Alliances Program in NNSA-ASC, grant number DEFC52-08NA28616, and by NASA through Einstein Postdoctoral Fellowship grant number PF3-140111 awarded by the Chandra X-ray Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for NASA under contract NAS8-03060.

The authors quantitatively study the effect of growth-induced reduction of long range structural order on the superconducting transition in epitaxial YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 6.9} films. The corresponding reduction of structural coherence length r{sub c} is determined from the width of X-ray diffraction rocking curves. {Tc} measurements in the films give evidence for the validity of the empirical scaling relation {Delta}{Tc} {approximately} r{sub c,ab}{sup {minus}2}, where {Delta}{Tc} is the disorder-induced reduction of {Tc} and r{sub c,ab} is the structural coherence length in the ab-plane. To explain this algebraic law the authors propose a simple phenomenological model based on the disorder-induced localization of the charge carriers within each ordered domain of size r{sub c,ab}. This picture enables them to precisely determine the Ginzburg-Landau superconducting coherence length in the ab-plane, and they obtain {xi}{sub ab} = 1.41 {+-} 0.04 nm.

This review summarizes the physical approaches towards enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide by controlling this semiconductor in a certain lengthscale from subnanometric to submillimetric distances and provides examples in which the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 is not promoted by doping or changes in the chemical composition, but rather by application of physical concepts and spatial structuring of the semiconductor. Thus, encapsulation inside the micropores and cavities of zeolites (about 1 nm) renders small titanium oxide clusters with harnessed photocatalytic activity. On the other hand, nanometric titanium particles can be ordered forming structured periodic mesoporous materials with high specific surface area and well defined porosity. Titiania nanotubes of micrometric length, either independent or forming a membrane, also exhibit unique photocatalytic activity as consequence of the long diffusion length of charge carriers along the nanotube axis. Finally, photonic crystals with an inverse opal structure and the even more powerful concept of photonic sponges can serve to slow down visible light photons inside the material, increasing the effective optical path in such a way that light absorption near the absorption onset of the material is enhanced considerably. All these physical-based approaches have shown their potential in enhancing the photocatalytic activity of titania, paving the way for a new generation of novel structured photocatalysts in which physical and chemical concepts are combined.

Spectral density built as Fourier transform of covariance sequence of stationary random process is determining the process characteristics and makes for analysis of it’s structure. Thus, one of the main problems in time series analysis is constructing consistent estimates of spectral density via successive, taken after equal periods of time observations of stationary random process. This article is devoted to investigation of problems dealing with application of wavelet anal...

In this paper, we analysed the correlation between the central surface density and the halo core radius of galaxies, and cluster of galaxies dark matter (DM) haloes, in the framework of the secondary infall model. We used Del Popolo secondary infall model taking into account ordered and random angular momentum, dynamical friction and DM adiabatic contraction to calculate the density profile of haloes, and then these profiles are used to determine the surface density of DM haloes. The main result is that r* (the halo characteristic radius) is not a universal quantity as claimed by Donato et al. and Gentile et al. On the contrary, we find a correlation with the halo mass M200 in agreement with Cardone & Tortora, Boyarsky et al. and Napolitano, Romanowsky & Tortora, but with a significantly smaller scatter, namely 0.16 ± 0.05. We also consider the baryon column density finding this latter being indeed a constant for low-mass systems, such as dwarfs, but correlating with mass with a slope of α = 0.18 ± 0.05. In the case of the surface density of DM for a system composed only of DM, as in dissipationless simulations, we get α = 0.20 ± 0.05. These results leave little room for the recently claimed universality of (dark and stellar) column density.

Using the desiliconization and scraping into shape method, studies were made on stomatal length, width and density of rice leaves. The results indicated that average length, width and density of two types used in the experiment followed an order of indica > japonica. Significant difference between indica type and japonica type was found in the stomatal length and width. Carrelalion analysis among stomatal characteristics showed that there were no significant relationships betwen stomatal length and width, and between stomatal width and density, but the stomatal length was closely correlated with the stomatal density(p ＜ 0.05)in all the types used in their experiment.%采用改良刮制法对水稻叶片气孔的长度、宽度和密度及其相关性进行了研究。结果表明，籼稻和粳稻的叶片平均气孔长度、宽度和密度的大小顺序均为籼稻>粳稻，两种类型水稻叶片的气孔长度的差异和气孔宽度的差异均不显著。气孔性状间的相关分析表明，气孔长度与宽度，气孔宽度与密度间的相关不显著，而气孔长度与密度间存在明显的负相关(p＜0.05)。

The KWS-2 SANS diffractometer is dedicated to the investigation of soft matter and biophysical systems covering a wide lengthscale, from nm to µm. The instrument is optimized for the exploration of the wide momentum transfer Q range between 1x10-4 and 0.5 Å-1 by combining classical pinhole, focusing (with lenses), and time-of-flight (with chopper) methods, while simultaneously providing high-neutron intensities with an adjustable resolution. Because of its ability to adjust the intensity and the resolution within wide limits during the experiment, combined with the possibility to equip specific sample environments and ancillary devices, the KWS-2 shows a high versatility in addressing the broad range of structural and morphological studies in the field. Equilibrium structures can be studied in static measurements, while dynamic and kinetic processes can be investigated over time scales between minutes to tens of milliseconds with time-resolved approaches. Typical systems that are investigated with the KWS-2 cover the range from complex, hierarchical systems that exhibit multiple structural levels (e.g., gels, networks, or macro-aggregates) to small and poorly-scattering systems (e.g., single polymers or proteins in solution). The recent upgrade of the detection system, which enables the detection of count rates in the MHz range, opens new opportunities to study even very small biological morphologies in buffer solution with weak scattering signals close to the buffer scattering level at high Q. In this paper, we provide a protocol to investigate samples with characteristic size levels spanning a wide lengthscale and exhibiting ordering in the mesoscale structure using KWS-2. We present in detail how to use the multiple working modes that are offered by the instrument and the level of performance that is achieved. PMID:28060296

The KWS-2 SANS diffractometer is dedicated to the investigation of soft matter and biophysical systems covering a wide lengthscale, from nm to µm. The instrument is optimized for the exploration of the wide momentum transfer Q range between 1x10(-4) and 0.5 Å(-1) by combining classical pinhole, focusing (with lenses), and time-of-flight (with chopper) methods, while simultaneously providing high-neutron intensities with an adjustable resolution. Because of its ability to adjust the intensity and the resolution within wide limits during the experiment, combined with the possibility to equip specific sample environments and ancillary devices, the KWS-2 shows a high versatility in addressing the broad range of structural and morphological studies in the field. Equilibrium structures can be studied in static measurements, while dynamic and kinetic processes can be investigated over time scales between minutes to tens of milliseconds with time-resolved approaches. Typical systems that are investigated with the KWS-2 cover the range from complex, hierarchical systems that exhibit multiple structural levels (e.g., gels, networks, or macro-aggregates) to small and poorly-scattering systems (e.g., single polymers or proteins in solution). The recent upgrade of the detection system, which enables the detection of count rates in the MHz range, opens new opportunities to study even very small biological morphologies in buffer solution with weak scattering signals close to the buffer scattering level at high Q. In this paper, we provide a protocol to investigate samples with characteristic size levels spanning a wide lengthscale and exhibiting ordering in the mesoscale structure using KWS-2. We present in detail how to use the multiple working modes that are offered by the instrument and the level of performance that is achieved.

The magnetization probability density in d = 2 and 3 dimensional Ising models in slab geometry of volume L\\paralleld-1× {{L}\\bot} is computed through Monte-Carlo simulation at the critical temperature and zero magnetic field. The finite-size scaling of this distribution and its dependence on the system aspect-ratio ρ =\\frac{{{L}\\bot}}{{{L}\\parallel}} and boundary conditions are discussed. In the limiting case ρ \\to 0 of a macroscopically large slab ({{L}\\parallel}\\gg {{L}\\bot} ) the distribution is found to scale as a Gaussian function for all tested system sizes and boundary conditions.

We analyze solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field data to study scaling properties of kinetic and magnetic energy density as a function of solar cycle and distance from the sun. In his original theory on turbulence, Kolmogorov predicted that in the inertial range the fluctuations in velocity differences should be self-similar. Analysis of solar wind data showed this not to be the case. On the other hand B. Hnat et.al.(Geophys. Res. Lett., 29 (10), 1446, 2002) and J.J Podesta (J. Geophys. Res., 111, A09105, 2006) showed that fluctuations in kinetic and magnetic energy density are approximately self-similar. We extend this analysis using data from the SWE and MFI experiments on the WIND spacecraft (at 1AU) during solar minimum (2006) and solar maximum (2001) and VHM/FGM experiment on the Ulysses spacecraft (1AU to 5AU). We calculate the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the time delayed differences in kinetic and magnetic energy density and present a method through which the scaling exponent can be reliably calculated from the CDFs, instead of using structure functions which are very sensitive to large fluctuations. We compare the scaling exponents derived from the CDFs to the ones calculated from structure functions and study the rescaling properties of CDFs.

U3Si2 and FeCrAl have been proposed as fuel and cladding concepts, respectively, for accident tolerance fuels with higher tolerance to accident scenarios compared to UO2. However, a lot of key physics and material properties regarding their in-pile performance are yet to be explored. To accelerate the understanding and reduce the cost of experimental studies, multiscale modeling and simulation are used to develop physics-based materials models to assist engineering scale fuel performance modeling. In this report, the lower-length-scale efforts in method and material model development supported by the Accident Tolerance Fuel (ATF) high-impact-problem (HIP) under the NEAMS program are summarized. Significant progresses have been made regarding interatomic potential, phase field models for phase decomposition and gas bubble formation, and thermal conductivity for U3Si2 fuel, and precipitation in FeCrAl cladding. The accomplishments are very useful by providing atomistic and mesoscale tools, improving the current understanding, and delivering engineering scale models for these two ATF concepts.

Theory predicts that higher biodiversity in the tropics is maintained by specialized interactions among plants and their natural enemies that result in conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD). By using more than 3000 species and nearly 2.4 million trees across 24 forest plots worldwide, we show that global patterns in tree species diversity reflect not only...

Full Text Available The use of the density-taper approach to initialise a genetic algorithm is shown to give excellent results in the synthesis of thinned arrays. This approach is shown to give better SLL values more consistently than using random values and difference...

The establishment of a complete genomic sequence of silkworm, the model species of Lepidoptera, laid a foundation for its functional genomics. A more complete annotation of the genome will benefit functional and comparative studies and accelerate extensive industrial applications for this insect. To realize these goals, we embarked upon a large-scale full-length cDNA collection from 21 full-length cDNA libraries derived from 14 tissues of the domesticated silkworm and performed full sequencing by primer walking for 11,104 full-length cDNAs. The large average intron size was 1904 bp, resulting from a high accumulation of transposons. Using gene models predicted by GLEAN and published mRNAs, we identified 16,823 gene loci on the silkworm genome assembly. Orthology analysis of 153 species, including 11 insects, revealed that among three Lepidoptera including Monarch and Heliconius butterflies, the 403 largest silkworm-specific genes were composed mainly of protective immunity, hormone-related, and characteristic structural proteins. Analysis of testis-/ovary-specific genes revealed distinctive features of sexual dimorphism, including depletion of ovary-specific genes on the Z chromosome in contrast to an enrichment of testis-specific genes. More than 40% of genes expressed in specific tissues mapped in tissue-specific chromosomal clusters. The newly obtained FL-cDNA sequences enabled us to annotate the genome of this lepidopteran model insect more accurately, enhancing genomic and functional studies of Lepidoptera and comparative analyses with other insect orders, and yielding new insights into the evolution and organization of lepidopteran-specific genes.

The Scaled Quantum Mechanical (SQM) method of scaling calculated force constants to predict theoretically calculated vibrational frequencies is expanded to include a broad array of polarized and augmented basis sets based on the split valence 6-31G and 6-311G basis sets with the B3LYP density functional. Pulay's original choice of a single polarized 6-31G(d) basis coupled with a B3LYP functional remains the most computationally economical choice for scaled frequency calculations. But it can be improved upon with additional polarization functions and added diffuse functions for complex molecular systems. The new scale factors for the B3LYP density functional and the 6-31G, 6-31G(d), 6-31G(d,p), 6-31G+(d,p), 6-31G++(d,p), 6-311G, 6-311G(d), 6-311G(d,p), 6-311G+(d,p), 6-311G++(d,p), 6-311G(2d,p), 6-311G++(2d,p), 6-311G++(df,p) basis sets are shown. The double d polarized models did not perform as well and the source of the decreased accuracy was investigated. An alternate system of generating internal coordinates that uses the out-of plane wagging coordinate whenever it is possible; makes vibrational assignments via potential energy distributions more meaningful. Automated software to produce SQM scaled vibrational calculations from different molecular orbital packages is presented.

This thesis is concerned with different generic types of vortex matter arising in the intermediate state of the type-I superconductor lead, the intermediate mixed state of the type-II superconductor niobium, and the helimagnetic phase of the compound manganese silicide. It is demonstrated and explained how a combination of i) the radiographic techniques neutron grating interferometry and neutron diffractive imaging with ii) scattering methods such as small-angle-neutron scattering and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering can provide novel insight into the bulk behavior of these vortex systems. By means of the used scattering methods, detailed information on the morphology of the vortex phases covering a lengthscale of 0.01 to 10 μm are obtained, while the radiographic approaches additionally map the spatial distribution of vortices within the sample. In particular, this thesis focuses on the strong influences of demagnetization, geometric barriers and pinning on the vortex configuration.

We construct the Extended Relativity Theory in Born-Clifford-Phase spaces with an upper and lower lengthscales (infrared/ultraviolet cutoff). The invariance symmetry leads naturally to the real Clifford algebra Cl (2, 6, R ) and complexified Clifford Cl_C ( 4 ) algebra related to Twistors. We proceed with an extensive review of Smith's 8D model based on the Clifford algebra Cl ( 1 ,7) that reproduces at low energies the physics of the Standard Model and Gravity; including the derivation of all the coupling constants, particle masses, mixing angles, ....with high precision. Further results by Smith are discussed pertaining the interplay among Clifford, Jordan, Division and Exceptional Lie algebras within the hierarchy of dimensions D = 26, 27, 28 related to bosonic string, M, F theory. Two Geometric actions are presented like the Clifford-Space extension of Maxwell's Electrodynamics, Brandt's action related the 8D spacetime tangent-bundle involving coordinates and velocities (Finsler geometries) followed by a...